Societe Generale-Forge (SGF) launched EUR CoinVertible (EURCV), a euro-backed Ethereum-based stablecoin on April 20. Though the bank claims to be the first of its kind to launch an institutional stablecoin on a public blockchain, National Australia Bank (NAB) minted AUDN on Ethereum in March. The stablecoin is aimed at bridging the gap between traditional capital markets and the growing demand for digital assets in the on-chain transactions.

Despite being under the umbrella of a regulated financial services firm, the code of the stablecoin has come under criticism for its lack of continuity with decentralized ideals. Pseudonymous smart contract engineer “alephv.eth" points out that Ethereum-based ERC-20 transfers would require approval by a centralized registrar before processing the transaction. What this translates to is that the transactions, though on a public network, would be vetted through a centralized power – in this case, the registrar that SGF appointed. Non-fungible token (NFT) project founder “foobar” notes how this is a “laughingstock” and levies criticism for the worse code he had ever seen.

Crypto researcher Mason Versluis voices the same sentiment and warn against commercial firms trying to “weasel” into crypto, disrupting the decentralized narrative. But Ether investor Ryan Berckman takes a slightly more neutral analysis, citing that this might be a baby step for SGF into the digital asset domain and that more banks would take a leaf from this book soon.

Ultimately, EURCV tokens are only available to institutional clients that have gone through the bank's KYC and AML procedure. This move is arguably a step in the right direction, as the financial industry is projected to gradually fill in the gap between traditional banking and decentralized networks, tapping into the full potential blockchain technology offers. And the 10 million EURCV tokens minted on Ethereum, as seen on Etherscan, stand as proof of SGF's promise.



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