The Dutch central bank has granted Qivalis an electronic money institution license, clearing the Amsterdam-based consortium to move toward issuing a euro-denominated electronic money token under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation.

Qivalis, backed by 37 major European banks, confirmed the Bank of the Netherlands (DNB) issued the license. The authorization is the regulatory anchor the consortium needs, but it isn't the finish line. Qivalis still has to satisfy remaining MiCA requirements, including publishing a white paper, before it can issue the token. The company says that will happen in the coming months.

What does the license unlock?

The license positions Qivalis to give banks and payment companies a way to transfer euros over blockchain infrastructure. The consortium's scale matters here: 37 members means access to a large European banking network from day one. What's still unknown is which members will actually use the token, and how much volume they expect to route through EMTs. Qivalis hasn't disclosed either.

Distribution will run through banks, cryptocurrency exchanges and payment providers — not directly to consumers. That's an institutional-first model, closer to wholesale settlement than retail payments.

"Europe's currency deserves Europe's rules, onchain," Qivalis CEO Jan-Oliver Sell said. "We believe Europe should have a euro-denominated onchain settlement asset issued under European law and subject to European regulatory standards."

How do EMTs differ from other stablecoins?

Under MiCA, all electronic money tokens are stablecoins, but not all stablecoins are EMTs — a distinction the U.K. parliament has also laid out. EMTs peg to a single official currency, such as the euro or U.S. dollar. Other stablecoins can track baskets of currencies or other assets.

Two rules define the category:

• EMT issuers must be authorized credit institutions or electronic money institutions, giving holders a legal claim against the issuer.
• Holders can redeem tokens at face value at any time.

There's also a hard constraint: EMTs cannot pay interest under MiCA. That rules out yield-bearing token designs for issuers operating inside the EU framework.

Dollar-backed stablecoins such as USDC can also qualify as EMTs under MiCA, provided they meet the EU's requirements. Issuers that don't comply can't lawfully offer their tokens to the public in the bloc — a market-access line that firms like Qivalis are now positioning behind.

Who is behind it?

The consortium has grown to 37 European banks since its founding in September 2025, with BBVA, BNP Paribas, ING and DZ Bank among the members. Qivalis has also picked Fireblocks to supply its digital asset infrastructure, settling the custody and transfer layer before launch.

The bank-heavy ownership structure is the operational bet: if even a fraction of the consortium's members route euro settlement through the token, Qivalis enters the market with distribution most stablecoin issuers can't buy.

The near-term milestone to watch is the MiCA white paper. Once published, and the remaining compliance steps clear, Qivalis can put a regulated, redeemable-at-par onchain euro into the hands of European banks — months, not years, from now.