- ECB board member Piero Cipollone warned Friday that stablecoin growth could strip European banks of retail deposits, compounding losses from mobile payment platforms.
- Two-thirds of card payments in the euro area route through non-European schemes, and 13 of 21 eurozone countries have no national card scheme.
- The ECB named 36 payment service providers for a digital euro pilot starting in the second half of 2027, days after the European Parliament voted 416 to 169 to begin formal legislative negotiations.
Speaking at a banking conference in Rome on Friday, European Central Bank executive board member Piero Cipollone warned that stablecoin growth could deprive banks of retail deposits, according to his prepared remarks. “Even traditional debit card payments are becoming less popular,” he said, noting that mobile payments already exceed one in ten point-of-sale transactions in Ireland, the Netherlands, and Finland.
When customers use mobile payments, banks pay higher fees than with debit cards and often receive no transaction data, Cipollone added. “If the use of stablecoins increases in the future, banks will also lose retail deposits.” Deposits serve as the raw material banks use to extend credit, making the threat existential for small cooperative banks with thin margins.
The global stablecoin market sits at roughly $300 billion, per DeFiLlama data, and is almost entirely dollar-denominated. Cipollone framed the digital euro as the structural answer, offering a government-issued electronic cash form distributed through commercial banks.
The ECB has already named 36 payment providers—including Deutsche Bank, UniCredit, and Revolut—for a 12-month pilot starting in the second half of 2027. The digital euro will pay no interest and carry holding limits to prevent deposit outflows. Lawmakers are targeting a deal by end of 2026, with first issuance eyed for 2029.
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