Dutch Central Bank Licenses Qivalis to Issue MiCA-Compliant Euro Token
Key points
- De Nederlandsche Bank granted Qivalis an electronic money institution licence on or before 14 October 2026, authorising the Amsterdam-based consortium to move toward issuing a euro-denominated EMT under MiCA.
- Qivalis is backed by 37 European banks including BBVA, BNP Paribas, ING, and DZ Bank, and has engaged Fireblocks to provide digital asset infrastructure since the consortium's founding in September 2025.
- The licence is a necessary but not sufficient condition for issuance: Qivalis must still publish a MiCA-compliant white paper and satisfy remaining regulatory requirements before distributing the token, with a target timeline of the coming months.
- Distribution is planned through banks, cryptocurrency exchanges, and payment providers rather than directly to consumers, and no member banks have been publicly confirmed as users nor have volume projections been disclosed.
- MiCA EMTs must be redeemable at face value on demand and cannot pay interest, which sharply distinguishes them from yield-bearing stablecoin structures gaining traction elsewhere.
Qivalis, a consortium of 37 European banks that includes BBVA, BNP Paribas, ING, and DZ Bank, has received an electronic money institution (EMI) licence from De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), clearing the principal regulatory hurdle toward issuing a euro-denominated electronic money token (EMT) under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. Founded in September 2025 and headquartered in Amsterdam, the consortium has selected Fireblocks as its digital asset infrastructure provider.
The licence does not yet permit the token to go live. Qivalis still must satisfy remaining MiCA requirements, including publishing a regulatory white paper, before distributing its EMT through banks, cryptocurrency exchanges, and payment providers. The company is targeting that rollout within the coming months. Notably, no detail has been disclosed about which of the 37 member banks will actively use the token or what transaction volumes are anticipated.
Under MiCA, EMTs carry specific structural features: they are pegged to a single official currency, must be issued by an authorised credit institution or EMI, grant holders a legal right to redeem at face value at any time, and are prohibited from paying interest. The framework also applies to non-European stablecoins seeking EU market access, meaning dollar-backed tokens such as USDC can qualify as EMTs if they satisfy the applicable requirements. Qivalis chief executive Jan-Oliver Sell framed the initiative as a sovereignty argument, stating that Europe’s currency deserves Europe’s rules onchain. The scale of the consortium is the project’s clearest commercial asset; the absence of confirmed member commitments is the most immediate open question for market participants sizing its near-term significance.