Spanish banking giant BBVA joins EU stablecoin project, challenging the dollar's dominance.

According to Mars Finance, BBVA, Spain's second-largest bank, has joined Qivalis, becoming the 12th member bank of the Amsterdam-based stablecoin project. Qivalis aims to launch a regulated, euro-pegged stablecoin, providing the EU market with digital euro payment and settlement options while challenging the dominance of dollar-denominated stablecoins. Existing members of the project include major EU banks such as BNP Paribas, ING, and UniCredit, with the goal of issuing stablecoins through a banking network to provide businesses and consumers with payment channels that do not rely on third parties or the traditional financial system outside of blockchain. Currently, the global stablecoin market is worth approximately $300 billion, of which only $860 million is pegged to the single euro. Dollar-denominated stablecoins still dominate: Tether's USDT has a market capitalization of approximately $185 billion, and Circle Internet's USDC has a market capitalization of approximately $70 billion.