Societe Generale Debuts Dollar-Pegged Stablecoin in Industry First

French bank Societe Generale is launching a dollar-pegged stablecoin via its digital assets arm.

The bank announced Tuesday (June 10) that its Societe Generale-Forge (SG-Forge) subsidiary would launch the coin — known as USD CoinVertible (USDCV) — on the Ethereum and Solana public blockchains, with Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY) acting as reserve custodian.

The launch makes Societe Generale the first major lender to debut a dollar-pegged stablecoin. SG-Forge introduced a stablecoin pegged to the euro in 2023. Jean-Marc Stenger, CEO of SG-Forge, said moving to a dollar-pegged coin was the logical next step.

“The stablecoin market remains largely US Dollar denominated. This new currency will enable our clients, either institutions, corporates or retail investors, to leverage the benefits of an institutional-grade stablecoin,” he said in a news release.

The company says both its coins are designed to support client activities such as crypto trading and cross-border payments, on-chain settlement, foreign exchange transactions and collateral and cash management.

Trading of USDCV is expected to begin early next month. Societe Generale says both that coin and the euro-pegged coin are covered by the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.

The launch comes as many of the world’s biggest banks are showing an increasing interest in stablecoins, as covered here recently, following reports that JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup were exploring the launch of a jointly operated stablecoin.

“The timing of this venture is no coincidence,” PYMNTS wrote late last month. “For years, stablecoins, which are digital tokens pegged to traditional currencies like the U.S. dollar, have promised to blend the best of both worlds: the efficiency of blockchain transactions and the stability of fiat currency.”

Stablecoins have grown rapidly, with Tether (USDT) and Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) reaching hundreds of billions in circulation. At the same time, their mainstream usage has been limited by regulatory uncertainty and a view that they operate outside the traditional financial system.

To succeed in this space, the report added, banks will need to offer a clear value proposition, demonstrating the things their stablecoin offers that existing ones don’t. That could mean integrating these coins with existing banking services.

“Imagine a Zelle payment settled instantly in a stablecoin, or a corporate treasury using tokenized dollars for real-time reconciliation,” PYMNTS wrote. “These are tangible use cases that banks are uniquely positioned to serve.”