Societe Generale subsidiary launches euro-pegged stablecoin on Ethereum

Societe Generale-Forge (SG-Forge), a regulated subsidiary of the French banking firm Societe Generale, has launched EUR CoinVertible, the euro-pegged stablecoin for qualified institutional clients.

Announcing the news on April 20, SG-Forge said that the new stablecoin is based on the Ethereum blockchain and will be traded under the ticker symbol EURCV. The new digital asset will be only available to investors onboarded by Societe Generale through its existing Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering procedures.

“In the weeks to come, Societe Generale-Forge will assess the interest from prospective clients and respond to their questions for gradual adoption,” SG-Forge CEO Jean-Marc Stenger told Cointelegraph. The token will be available exclusively to institutional qualified investors through eligible market platforms, including crypto trading venues.

The EURCV stablecoin is designed to bridge the gap between traditional capital markets and the digital assets ecosystem. SG-Forge decided to launch the digital asset in response to the growing demand for a new settlement asset for on-chain transactions. Other benefits of stablecoin include the activation of new solutions for corporate treasury, cash management and cash pooling activities, on-chain liquidity funding and refinancing solutions, the firm said.

The EUR CoinVertible stablecoin complies with major market standards, including the open-source interoperability and securitization framework known as Compliant Architecture for Security Token, or CAST, SG-Forge noted. The firm stressed that it will ensure “complete segregation” of the collateral assets backing the value of the stablecoins from the issuer and will provide daily transparency reports and collateral positions.

Stenger said the EUR CoinVertible smart contract has been audited by the professional services network PwC. For issuing the stablecoin, SG-Forge has been advised by the law firm White & Case. The role of the fiduciary is provided by Equitis Gestion, a private equity firm regulated by the French financial regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers.

Related: US Congress to introduce new draft bill for stablecoins

Additionally, the stablecoin has been developed in line with the upcoming European digital assets regulations known as the Markets in Crypto-Assets, or MiCA, framework.

SG-Forge CEO believes that stablecoins built under a banking-grade structure have a great potential to increase trust and confidence in the native crypto ecosystem. He said:

“This issuance is a major step in SG-Forge’s roadmap to deliver innovative solutions to its clients, either real-money institutions and corporates or entities of the crypto industry, and to facilitate the emergence of new market infrastructures based on blockchain.”

As one of the largest banks in France, Societe Generale has been progressing with cryptocurrency and blockchain-related services over the past few years. In September 2022, the company launched custodial services for crypto fund managers through its Security Services subsidiary. The firm has also been actively experimenting with issuing security tokens on blockchain like Tezos.

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