European stablecoin issuer Qivalis sees transformation of global trade finance

Qivalis, the independent euro-pegged stablecoin builder with a growing number of banks as shareholders in the project, has also been undergoing a transformation. Sell notes that one year ago he was the only employee; now Qivalis has grown to about 40 staffers and is close to securing an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license in the Netherlands. The aim is to go live with a regulated euro stablecoin by the end of this year.

In the past, business blockchain firms like R3 and Hyperledger were working on streamlining the paper-based side of transactions, instruments like letters of credit, for instance. But they didn’t have the cash leg and payment side onchain, Sell pointed out.

“Now there are stablecoins with liquidity, so you’ve got the payment side as well, which was the piece that was missing. So, it’s really interesting to hear from people who are at the coal face about how much it’s changing their business,” he said.

The stablecoin market is dominated by USD-pegged tokens, particularly the ones issued by the two stablecoin giants, Tether and Circle. But in the end, Europeans are not going to live in dollars, Sell said. That might be fine for some places like Africa and South America, where the local currency is volatile, but not for the EU.