France’s 2nd Largest Bank Makes Crypto Move: Giant Managing Trillions of Euros Chooses This Asset

French banking giant Crédit Agricole has launched EURXT, a new euro-pegged stablecoin compliant with European Union crypto regulations.

The giants of the traditional finance world continue to demonstrate their interest in the digital asset ecosystem with concrete steps. Crédit Agricole, France’s second-largest bank by assets, introduced its stablecoin named EURO eXchange Token (EURXT) to solidify its position in the cryptocurrency market. This move by the bank opens the doors to a new era in Europe’s digital finance race.

Operating on the Ethereum network, EURXT is directly pegged to the price of the euro and backed by cash reserves at a one-to-one ratio. This digital asset, issued by the bank’s asset services unit Caceis Bank, fully complies with the European Union’s MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulations. Already being used in Amundi‘s tokenized money market funds, the token forms an important part of the bank’s ACT 2028 strategic plan.

The Race for Euro-Pegged Stablecoins Heats Up

There are currently 20 million EURXT in circulation, and all of these assets are collateralized by euro reserves within Caceis Bank. With this step, Crédit Agricole aims to offer a strong alternative to competitors like Société Générale and Circle. Although euro-pegged stablecoins still have a small market share of about 0.5% compared to dollar-oriented giants like Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), they have shown remarkable growth by doubling their volume in the last year.

The involvement of Amundi, one of the region’s largest asset managers managing 2.4 trillion euros in funds, is of critical importance for institutional adoption. In this new era where traditional banking branches symbolize digital transformation, giants like Crédit Agricole integrating blockchain technology into their operations signal that the financial system could take on a fully tokenized structure in the future.