Mentions of banks in the context of cryptocurrencies started to appear much more actively the day before. The March 2023 collapse of major financial institutions in the US and Europe contributed to this. It made it clear that banks are not as safe as they used to be. That said, cryptocurrencies are proving to be less risky in some ways.

At the same time, Bernstein analysts believe that this banking crisis has become a new point of reference for the popularity of Bitcoin and other digital assets. Experts say cryptocurrencies, among other things, could stabilise the traditional sphere of finance. Read more about this in a separate article.

How cryptocurrencies from banks work

The EURCV project has been severely criticised by fans of digital assets. One of its first flaws that catches the eye when analyzing the code is the need to validate all transactions by one centralized entity. According to Cointelegraph’s sources, it most likely belongs to a bank.

Here’s what a researcher nicknamed alephv.eth wrote on Twitter about it.

I studied the code of the new euro-stablecoin. They’ve decided that the best option is for the bank to process every transaction on an Etherium basis. That makes sense, but such a radical commitment to inefficiency in the name of regulation could only come from a French bank.

Accordingly, we are talking about complete control over what happens. Of course, such an approach can be explained by a desire to fight illegal activity like terrorist financing, but its implementation is somehow terrible. All the same, users would have to wait for the approval of a centralised body to conduct transactions. On top of that, it could mean that transactions would be unavailable on weekends when banks are out of business. And in general, why even need such a stablcoin if its essence contradicts the idea of decentralized digital assets in general?

Speaking of inefficiency. A user of alephv.eth found another amusing fact in the code of the stable. Here is its description.

I noticed something a hundred times funnier: they have to do a transaction on the blockchain to process the confirmation from your side. Bank operators will have to whitelist users manually and “personally process transfers and even confirm ERC20 transactions” before the usual “transferFrom” command will work.

All in all, the project, even in its initial stage of existence, has distinguished itself by a huge number of downsides. Moreover, the latter will really interfere with efficient transactions, which means that such stablcoin will not even come close to replacing full-fledged digital assets based on various blockchains.

Problems in the project code were also highlighted by a cryptocurrency enthusiast under the nickname foobar. He noted that the need to centrally validate every transaction on the blockchain makes the network virtually useless. If bankers are testing their CBDCs in this way, they need to work in a completely different direction.

Analyst Mason Versluis said on Twitter that the project code is “absolutely terrible” and suggested the French bank should “stop trying to enter” the crypto market. Something so centralised will not work when paired with mainstream digital asset concepts, the expert said.

Many other Twitter users also left negative comments, but investor Ryan Berkman shared a neutral viewpoint. He explained that traditional financial institutions like SGF will make “baby steps” as they move into blockchain and digital assets. Here’s his view of what’s going on.

Obviously, such staplecoins will be uncompetitive in the marketplace. These are baby steps by organisations from traditional finance – they will soon take on a USDC-style project.

Berkman noted that SGF is also not the first bank to launch an institutional stablcoin on a public blockchain. He mentioned the AUDN stablcoin, issued on the Eth network in March by National Australia Bank (NAB). Given what is happening, the expert expects that other banks will also take up similar projects in the coming months.

The SGF stablcoin itself is not intended for public use – at least not yet. EURCV is only available to large institutional clients accepted by the bank. The main objective of the project is to bridge the gap between assets in traditional capital markets and the cryptocurrency ecosystem. In April, a total of 10 million EURCV tokens were issued on the Etherium network. They are all stored at the same wallet address.

The bank’s initiative will not compete with familiar stackable tokens like USDT or USDC. It’s just one sign that the global banking system may well soon be getting more involved with blockchains – and that will benefit end users one way or another. All the same, transfers on decentralised networks are much faster and cheaper.


This situation illustrates the shortcomings of the centralised financial system. Big players are afraid of losing control, so they create additional restrictions for users, which can sometimes have a significant impact on efficiency and the overall experience of the product. The case of Societe Generale-Forge is one of these. Hence, we can conclude that this initiative will only increase the popularity of full-fledged cryptocurrencies that give users the freedom to act.


What do you think about what’s happening? Share your opinion in our ex-wealthy cryptochat, where we are actively waiting for the new bullrun to arrive.