Societe Generale to list controversial stablecoin on Bitstamp

French lender Societe Generale is set to become the first bank to offer a stablecoin on a cryptocurrency exchange.

According to a report from the Financial Times (FT), the Paris-headquartered bank will debut its stablecoin EUR CoinVertible on crypto exchange Bitstamp on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023.

Speaking with the FT, Jean-Marc Stenger, CEO of Societe Generale Forge, said the crypto ecosystem has become “highly concentrated on a few existing stablecoins,” emphasizing that up to 90% denominated in U.S. dollars.

“[…] we definitely think that there is a place for a bank in this field and there is a place for a euro [denominated] stablecoin.”

Jean-Marc Stenger

Stenger added that the bank wants for its stablecoin to be widely available for trades settlement in digital bonds and funds, which is contrary to what JPMorgan is offering with its JPM Coin.

The move comes after Societe Generale has issued nearly $11 million worth of senior preferred unsecured bonds with maturity of three years on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. AXA Investment Managers and Generali Investments “fully subscribed the related security tokens through private placement,” with AXA Investment particularly spending €5 million worth of EURCV.

However, as crypto.news previously reported, the crypto community reacted negatively to the new bank-controlled stablecoin, raising multiple concerns.

According to observers who analyzed the smart contract code for EURCV, before a transaction can be completed, it must first be authorized by a centralized registrar (probably the one controlled by the bank), as required by the smart contract. Mason Versluis, a crypto researcher, noted in an X post that the code behind the stablecoin was “absolutely horrible” and advised the French lender to “stop trying to weasel” into crypto.