- Société Générale’s crypto subsidiary SG Forge is introducing the first bank-issued dollar stablecoin on Ethereum.
- The stablecoin launch targets institutional investors and taps into the $250 billion dollar stablecoin market.
French banking giant Société Générale (SG) makes waves in the world of digital assets with the launch of a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin.
This is also the first time a traditional financial institution, American or otherwise, has released a token for use on public blockchains, in France.
The move follows the bank’s 2023 debut of EUR CoinVertible (EURCV), a euro-backed stablecoin, and cements its commitment to blockchain innovation through its digital asset subsidiary, SG Forge.
Aimed at institutional investors, the token will directly challenge dominant players such as Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC) in the $250 billion dollar stablecoin market.
With an e-money license in the European Union, SG Forge is legally authorized to issue dollar-denominated digital assets under EU regulations, putting it in the same regulatory league as Circle.
Unlike JPMorgan’s JPM Coin, which is confined to internal banking networks, SG Forge’s new USD stablecoin will be deployed on public chains like Ethereum, with plans to expand to Solana.
Global payment giants, Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe have ramped up their integration of stablecoins into financial services.
EU regulations, particularly the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, are often seen as a key barrier to euro stablecoin growth with Tether withdrawing from the region.
Yet SG Forge sees this as an opportunity to lead with compliance-first offerings. SG Forge CEO Jean-Marc Stenger says, “Very few stablecoins are MiCA-compliant”.
The USD stablecoin initiative follows Société Générale’s broader strategy of integrating digital assets into traditional finance.