Stablecoins and the Bank's Choice: Build, Partner or Wait
By Koen Vanderhoydonk, CEO at The Connector.
Europe has been here before. Ten years ago, banks watched crypto grow outside their systems, unsure whether it would matter. Today the same question is coming back, but this time it is about payments rather than speculation. Stablecoins are reaching customers through cards and wallets, and most banks are still deciding what part, if any, they want in it.
Two early stories
The first starts in Vienna. Bitpanda was founded there in 2014 and became one of the first European platforms to make buying crypto feel like an ordinary retail product. It focused on regulation early, when that was unusual in the sector. That choice paid off: when banks later looked for a regulated partner, Bitpanda already had the licences and infrastructure.
The second story is in Zug, Switzerland. From around 2013, founders, foundations and investors gathered there, and the area became known as Crypto Valley. The Ethereum Foundation was set up in Zug in 2014. In 2016 the town began accepting Bitcoin for some municipal fees. Swiss regulators then provided early guidance, and later a legal framework for distributed ledger technology. Switzerland showed that a careful regulator could attract an industry rather than push it away.
Germany sets the rules for custody
Germany took the next important step. From January 2020, crypto custody became a licensed financial service under German banking law. For the first time, a major European market had a clear regulatory route for holding digital assets on behalf of clients. This mattered more than any single product launch because custody lets a bank offer crypto without handing its customers off to an outside exchange. Bitpanda expanded its German presence: Deutsche Bank handles real-time payments for its users, and LBBW, Germany's largest state bank, chose Bitpanda as its crypto custody partner in 2024.
Belgium follows
In February 2026, KBC became the first Belgian bank to let retail clients invest in Bitcoin and Ether through its Bolero platform and under the European MiCA regulation. The service covers buying, holding and selling. Customers cannot pay with it. KBC did not build custody itself. It chose Taurus, a Swiss custody specialist, as its partner. That decision brings the earlier stories together: a European framework, Swiss infrastructure, and a bank focused on the customer relationship.
From investment to payments
All of this was about crypto as an investment. Stablecoins are different. They are designed to hold a steady value and move money, bringing them closer to the core of banking.
The signals are worth reading carefully. Recent data from BNB Chain shows that more than three-quarters of stablecoin transfers there are under $100. That suggests everyday use, but it needs some care: small transfers also include automated activity and movements between platforms, not only consumers paying for coffee. What is clearer is the direction of travel. Marqeta now supports stablecoin-linked cards, most recently with Coinbase, which lets people spend stablecoin balances wherever cards are accepted. The customer sees a normal card payment. In many cases, the bank isn't part of it.
The vendor question
For a bank, the decision comes down to three options.
Building in-house gives full control, but it means taking on custody, wallet infrastructure, compliance and liquidity management. Few banks have that capacity, and the cost is hard to justify while volumes are uncertain.
Partnering is the route KBC took for crypto. It lets the bank keep the customer relationship and brand while a specialist runs the technical layer. The questions then shift to due diligence: the partner's MiCA licences, where assets are held, how operational resilience is handled under DORA, and what happens if the partner fails or is acquired.
Waiting is also a decision. It keeps risk low, but it leaves room for card programmes and fintech wallets to become the default place where customers hold and spend digital money.
When is the market ready?
Readiness is less about technology than about three conditions: a clear regulatory basis, which MiCA now largely provides for euro and dollar stablecoins; visible customer demand in the bank's own base; and a partner market mature enough to choose from. In several European countries, all three are now in place.
The next layer: agents that pay
One more reason to look at this now. AI agents are starting to pay on people's behalf. Proof and Circle recently demonstrated an agent that proves which verified person it is acting for and then pays in USDC. If agent payments grow, they'll likely run on fast, programmable money, and stablecoins fit that description. This ties directly into this month's two FinanceX themes, payments and fraud. When an agent starts a payment, the fraud question changes. Banks first had to know their customer, then the business behind an account. Now KYC and KYB are being joined by KYA, know your agent: checking which agent is acting, for whom, and with what permission. It is a different kind of identification, and one worth exploring in depth. Banks that understand stablecoin infrastructure today will be better placed to decide which agents they trust tomorrow.
Beyond the consumer
In this article, I focused on the retail side, but the business market may matter more. Stablecoins and tokenised assets settle at any hour, which opens the door to trading around the clock rather than within market hours. Settlement can happen almost at once, instead of on the trade date plus one or two days. That could bring more liquidity and higher trading volumes, but it also raises questions about risk, treasury, and market structure. It deserves a closer look, and we will come back to it in a future piece.
History shows that European banks didn't need to lead on crypto to benefit from it. They needed to choose the right partners at the right time. Stablecoins are offering that choice again.