It is a strong signal from one of Europe's largest market infrastructures. On July 1, Crédit Agricole officially launched EURXT (EURO eXchange Token), a euro-denominated stablecoin issued by CACEIS, its longstanding asset servicer (custody, settlement, fund administration). The inaugural transaction is anything but anecdotal: a subscription via EURXT into a tokenized money market fund managed by Amundi.
"We want this stablecoin to become a reference currency in Europe for the financial markets of tomorrow," says Michel Robert, Group Head of Digital Currencies at CACEIS, in an interview with The Big Whale.
The euro stablecoin market is still in its infancy
The numbers speak for themselves. The global stablecoin market is worth approximately $295 billion. The share of euro-denominated stablecoins? Around $708 million in market capitalization, or less than 0.25% of the total. For the world's second-largest currency zone, this is a paradox that is hard to overlook.
SG-Forge's EURCV, launched back in 2023 and long the only French contender in the space, hovers around €129 million. Circle's EURC, from the American side, is approaching $400 million.
The market remains embryonic, fragmented, and above all lacking a dominant institutional player.
This is precisely the gap that CACEIS intends to fill. The company is Europe's leading buy-side asset servicer: it handles, on behalf of investment funds, insurers and asset managers, all back-office operations related to their portfolios. Backed by Crédit Agricole (which also owns Amundi, Europe's largest asset manager), it commands an institutional client base that few players can rival.
"There was no euro stablecoin offering tailored to our institutional clients. That is what motivated us," explains Michel Robert.
Subscribing to a fund in seconds
The first use case is targeted, but it touches a nerve center of the asset management industry: instant settlement of subscriptions and redemptions in tokenized funds. In other words, funds whose units are issued as tokens on a blockchain, rather than through traditional registers.
"Today, the subscription and redemption process in funds is inefficient," observes Michel Robert. Settlement delays can often reach three days.
EURXT is designed to allow institutional investors to enter and exit a tokenized money market fund in real time, optimizing their cash management throughout the day. "Everyone senses that intraday liquidity will become a far more quantified and valued concern," he adds.
The ground is fertile. According to data from The Big Whale, the total value locked in tokenized money market funds has reached $15.2 billion, more than double its level a year ago.
The partnership announced on June 15 between Amundi, CACEIS and Ant International (the global arm of Chinese giant Alibaba) to develop tokenized treasury solutions on the blockchain confirms that the Crédit Agricole group has decided to pick up the pace.
Stablecoin vs. tokenized deposit: a deliberate choice
The choice of format deserves closer examination. While several major European banks lean toward the "tokenized deposit" (a digital token representing a conventional bank deposit, which typically circulates only on private or permissioned blockchains), CACEIS has taken a different path: that of a stablecoin, a standalone digital asset transferable on public blockchains.
EURXT is deployed on Ethereum, with a multi-chain rollout planned by the end of 2026.
For Michel Robert, this choice stems directly from CACEIS's core business: "Our absolute priority is to continue to exist tomorrow as an asset servicer. To achieve that, we need to be able to perform settlements on the blockchain." He adds: "A tokenized deposit, by definition, only works on private blockchains. That does not correspond to our role."
"Given that RWA initiatives are multiplying, we are convinced that our stablecoin has the potential to establish itself as the reference currency for the settlement of this new asset class," affirms Michel Robert.
CACEIS also ruled out the consortium option. No question of joining Qivalis, the project backed by several European banks (including BNP Paribas, BPCE, ING, BBVA, Deka Bank, among others) focused on cross-border payments. "By nature, consortia have a longer time to market," says Michel Robert.
Beyond governance, the priorities diverge: Qivalis emphasizes cross-border payments, while CACEIS is targeting on-chain settlements tied to market operations.
The door, however, is not closed to other banks. "We are being approached by other institutions asking whether they could use our stablecoin," he reveals.
Meria in the crosshairs: retail and institutional staking
The other dimension of the strategy could prove equally decisive. CACEIS is reportedly in exclusive negotiations to acquire Meria, the French crypto platform co-founded by Owen Simonin (also known by his influencer name Hasheur).
The information, initially reported by Blockstories, has been confirmed by The Big Whale. The transaction amount remains unknown for now, though sources mention a figure in the region of twenty million euros.
Meria claims 150,000 users, approximately €350 million in assets, and recently obtained its MiCA license from the AMF. Contacted by The Big Whale, the company declined to comment on the ongoing negotiations.
If the acquisition is confirmed, it would serve two distinct objectives.
The first is the most straightforward: opening a gateway for CACEIS into the retail market.
Without confirming the Meria project, Michel Robert acknowledges that discussions around broadening the client base were already underway: "The logical next step would be to make the stablecoin available to other types of clients. We are not there yet, but we are thinking about it."
Acquiring a platform that is already MiCA-licensed, with an established user base and brand, would allow CACEIS to bypass several years of development. And if EURXT were ever to reach individual investors, "being listed on exchanges will become essential," estimates a source close to the matter.
The second objective is potentially more transformative: staking. Meria historically built its business on cryptocurrency mining and then staking, and positions itself as one of France's leading specialists in this activity alongside its competitor Kiln.
Staking could become a central issue for asset servicers.
For asset managers running crypto ETPs (such as Amundi), a vehicle leaves significant yield on the table if the underlying assets are not staked. Having an integrated staking provider allows that yield to be captured for unitholders.
An asset servicer capable of offering white-label staking, with the operational rigor of a banking institution, could also occupy an unprecedented market position in Europe.
The legacy challenge
There remains the question everyone asks: that of existing systems. CACEIS does not downplay it. The coexistence of traditional infrastructure and blockchain constitutes the number one difficulty, according to a source close to the matter. "Our legacy systems and the systems we use for digital assets will need to coexist and communicate for several more years, as the transition toward a fully blockchain-managed financial system will be gradual," acknowledges Michel Robert.
The company is developing in-house software orchestration layers to bridge the two worlds. The goal is for the client to perceive no difference: to receive the same trade confirmation whether the subscription was made in a tokenized or traditional fund. "It has to be transparent for the client. The format of their investment does not matter," summarizes Michel Robert.
CACEIS's digital assets division, structured as a business line reporting directly to senior management, is targeting around fifty employees by the end of the year. An indicator that speaks volumes about the scale of the commitment.
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