Stablecoins won’t strengthen global role of euro, ECB’s Lagarde says

Written by Helen Partz, Staff Writer. Reviewed by Bryan O'Shea, Staff Editor. Written by Helen Partz, Staff Writer. Reviewed by Bryan O'Shea, Staff Editor. Stablecoins won’t strengthen global role of euro, ECB’s Lagarde saysLatest NewsPublishedMay 8, 2026ECB President Christine Lagarde said Europe should build tokenized settlement infrastructure anchored by central bank money rather than rely on private stablecoins.European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said stablecoins are not Europe’s best route to strengthening the euro’s international role, pushing back against calls to respond to US dollar-backed stablecoins with euro-denominated tokens.Speaking on Friday at the Banco de España LatAm Economic Forum in Roda de Bará, Spain, Lagarde made several comments on the role of stablecoins in the European economy. “It is no longer about whether stablecoins should exist, but whether jurisdictions can afford to be without them,” she said, arguing that the case for promoting euro stablecoins becomes less clear once their two core functions are separated.“The benefits attributed to them [stablecoins] rest on two distinct functions — a monetary function and a technological function — that are systematically conflated in the current debate,” Lagarde said.The speech lays out one of Lagarde’s clearest arguments yet against treating euro stablecoins as Europe’s answer to US dollar-backed stablecoins, which currently dominate the market with a roughly 98% share. The US has been promoting dollar stablecoins as a way to support the US dollar as a global reserve currency. Instead, she said Europe should build tokenized financial infrastructure anchored by central bank money, including the Eurosystem’s Pontes project for wholesale settlement and the Appia roadmap for an interoperable European tokenized finance ecosystem.Monetary function: Possible upside, but clear trade-offsHowever, Lagarde said that euro-denominated stablecoins operating under the European Unio…

Stablecoins won’t strengthen global role of euro, ECB’s Lagarde says

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