Qivalis has secured an electronic money institution (EMI) license in the Netherlands, giving the firm regulatory footing to launch a bank-backed euro stablecoin, CoinDesk reported.

The Dutch license places Qivalis under the supervision of the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM), the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets, and De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). EMI authorization under Dutch implementation of the EU's E-Money Directive allows the holder to issue electronic money — the legal wrapper most euro stablecoin issuers in Europe use before the bloc's dedicated stablecoin regime fully beds in.

What does the license actually unlock?

An EMI license is the operational prerequisite for issuing a euro-pegged token that redeems at par. Without it, a stablecoin issuer operating in the EU runs on a partner's license or sits outside the regulated perimeter.

With its own authorization, Qivalis can hold customer funds directly, issue e-money tokens against them, and build payment rails without depending on a third-party e-money firm. The "bank-backed" framing signals reserves sit with a licensed credit institution rather than in non-bank custody — a structure that mirrors how compliant euro issuers segregate collateral.

The move also positions Qivalis ahead of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regime's stablecoin rules, which took full effect across the EU in December 2024 and require issuers of e-money tokens to hold an EMI or credit institution license.

Why the euro stablecoin field is tightening

Euro-pegged tokens remain a fraction of the dollar stablecoin market, where Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC dominate. But MiCA has reshaped the competitive map: issuers without EU authorization have delisted their tokens for European users, while licensed players — including Banking Circle's EURI and Schuman Financial's EURØP — have pushed to capture the compliant euro niche.

Qivalis entering with a bank-backed structure and its own Dutch license adds another supervised competitor to that field. For corporate treasurers and payment firms weighing euro settlement on-chain, each new AFM- and DNB-supervised issuer widens the pool of regulated options.

The operational consequence is straightforward. Qivalis controls its own issuance, redemption and reserve custody stack from day one, rather than renting those functions. That shortens settlement chains and cuts counterparty exposure — the two things institutional users scrutinize hardest.

What comes next

The license is the gateway, not the product. Qivalis now faces the slower work of publishing reserve attestations, lining up banking partners for mint-and-redemand flows, and convincing exchanges and payment processors to list and integrate the token.

Expect the euro stablecoin race to keep consolidating around issuers holding EU e-money or banking licenses, with MiCA's supervisory framework — and the AFM's oversight of Qivalis — defining who can credibly scale.

By Daniel Okafor