European banks form company to launch euro stablecoin

A consortium of nine European banks, including ING and UniCredit, said on Thursday they are forming a new company to launch a euro-denominated stablecoin, a move that signals mainstream finance’s shift to embrace digital markets.

The company will be based in Amsterdam, a spokesperson for DekaBank, another of the participating institutions, said. Its stablecoin is expected to launch in the second half of next year, the consortium said in a statement.

Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to keep a constant value and are backed by traditional…