Banco Santander is investigating the development of a Fiat-Stunder Stablecoin and extends its crypto offers to retail customers, so that a potentially new chapter in the bank’s digital asset strategy is marked.
According to a May 29 Bloomberg News reportThe initiative, still at an early stage, can include both US dollars and euro-pegetens.
Santander joins a cohort of large worldwide banks, including JPMorgan and Citigroup, which re -assesses their role in the developing landscape of the digital currency, after favorable legal shifts under the administration of President Donald Trump.
The Digital subsidiary of the Bank, Openbank, has applied for permits to offer crypto services for retail among the Markets of the European Union in Crypto-Assets (MICA) regulations.
The relocation is in line with Santander’s strategy to expand its digital assets offering and reflects a wider trend at European banks to participate in regulated crypto services.
The revival of interest in private stablecoins is linked to broader purposes: strengthening the global reach of the dollar, improving payment infrastructure and opening financial access to disadvantaged communities.
EU supervisors divided
Although proponents see Stablecoins as aids for innovation and inclusion, some traditional stakeholders of the banking system remain wary.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has warned that the increasing presence of dollar-mixed stablecoins could undermine the dominance of the euro in the EU financial system.
ECB President Christine Lagarde has called for revisions of the MICA Regulation, with the argument that the current framework may not sufficiently tackle the risks of these stablecoins.
Moreover, the ECB fears that an increase in stabilecoins with dollars will be supported by dollars, could shift European capital in American assets, making EU banks and financial markets possibly destabilizing.
The European Commission, on the other hand, has triggered these concerns and claims that the existing MICA regulations are robust enough to manage the risks related to stablecoins.
Commission officials have emphasized that Mica provides supervisors the power to intervene if the expenditure of Stabilein threatens financial stability. They claim that the warnings of the ECB can be exaggerated and that the current legal framework is sufficient.
Santander’s deliberations signal the growing acceptance of digital assets within traditional finances. Whether the bank will eventually launch a stablecoin or extends crypto services to retail users, can influence its actions how other settings navigate through the emerging regulatory environment.
