Only 8 of the Top 20 EU Banks Offer Cryptocurrency Services

European banking industry’s introduction of cryptocurrency services remains in the early stages, but participation by traditional financial institutions centered around stablecoins is expanding.

Kiarra Munareto, co-founder of “Stablecoin Insider,” stated on LinkedIn on the 12th that among the top 20 banks in Europe, only 8 are actually offering large-scale crypto custody or trading services.

She explained that the European banking sector remains cautious about directly providing cryptocurrency services but is showing more proactive moves in the stablecoin space.

A typical example is Société Générale’s digital asset subsidiary, SG Forge. In April 2023, SG Forge launched the euro stablecoin EURCV, and on July 1, 2024, it restructured it into a fully MiCA-compliant electronic money token.

SG Forge has obtained an electronic money institution license from the French financial regulator ACPR and has since expanded to multi-chain networks such as Ethereum, Solana, XRP Ledger, and Stellar. By March 2026, the market cap of EURCV had grown to approximately $452 million, a significant increase from around €65.8 million at the beginning of 2026.

Circle’s euro stablecoin EURC is also continuously expanding its market share. Currently, EURC accounts for about 41% of the total euro stablecoin market cap, rising rapidly from 17% twelve months ago to around 42%.

Analysts believe this share expansion is directly related to the implementation of the MiCA regulation, which has led to the delisting of non-compliant stablecoins from exchanges. EURC is issued on multiple blockchains including Avalanche, Base, Ethereum, Solana, and Stellar, and operates on a 100% reserve model.

In January 2026, through integration with payment company Ingenico, it became possible to make payments at over 40 million stores worldwide via WalletConnect Pay.

In Germany, AllUnity launched the euro stablecoin EURAU. AllUnity, a joint venture formed by DWS, Galaxy, and Flow Traders, received a license from the German financial regulator BaFin to operate as an electronic money institution, launching Germany’s first fully regulated euro stablecoin.

Recently, they also introduced the Swiss franc stablecoin CHFAU, expanding their multi-currency stablecoin model. EURAU has a market cap of about $1.2 million, still small, but it features an infrastructure focused on institutional users.

Stablecoin projects involving direct participation from major European banks are also in the pipeline. Kivalis, established in September 2025, is a joint venture involving 12 European banks including BBVA, CaixaBank, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Zentralbank, DZ Bank, Yúxìn Bank, Banco Santander, ING Group, KBC Bank, Danske Bank, Nordea, and Erste Bank.

Kivalis aims to launch a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin in the second half of 2026. European regulators are currently concerned that 99.58% of the stablecoin market is dollar-denominated, with only about $649 million in euro stablecoins.

Munareto explained that this trend indicates a strategic shift in European finance. She analyzed that while the pace of banks directly expanding into crypto services is limited, participation in blockchain finance through stablecoins and payment infrastructure is rapidly spreading.