Yesterday, SG-Forge announced a bold expansion into the U.S. stablecoin market, partnering with Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) as its reserve custodian. This move arrives more than two years after SG-Forge — the blockchain-focused arm of Société Générale — first launched its euro-pegged stablecoin, EUR CoinVertible (EURCV).
When EURCV debuted in April 2023, SG-Forge made headlines as the first major global bank to issue a euro-backed stablecoin. The ambition was clear: deliver institutional-grade euro liquidity directly into both traditional finance and DeFi ecosystems, backed by the reputation of a top-10 European banking institution.
But over two years in, adoption remains limited. Only around €41 million in EURCV has been issued to date, with more than 90% concentrated in just four wallets. Roughly €25 million remains untouched. A DeFi launch has yet to materialize.
This slow rollout stands in contrast to Circle’s EURC, which now nears €200 million in market capitalization and even offers yield on protocols like Morpho and Aave.
Sources say the problem isn’t regulatory — it’s internal. For now, the bank’s leadership continues to block deployment of the stablecoin in DeFi.
Morpho Blue Integration on Hold
“SG-Forge’s strategic mistake was being too tightly integrated into the banking group,” said multiple sources. “For example, IT support functions are handled by the investment bank. As a result, any initiative involving DeFi requires approval from the compliance department — which has consistently opposed it so far, despite internal education efforts on the topic.”
As of April 2024, discussions around launching EURCV on Morpho Blue — a DeFi protocol developed by French startup Morpho Labs — had reached an advanced stage.
Unlike protocols like Aave, Morpho Blue allows issuers to design custom lending markets with parameters such as KYC, providing flexibility to address compliance concerns — a key feature aimed at attracting traditional financial institutions.
However, key approvals are still pending. The bank’s leadership is reportedly uncomfortable with not having full visibility over stablecoin holders at all times and is requesting stronger guarantees in terms of risk management.
This is despite MiCA’s stablecoin framework, in effect since July 1, 2024, explicitly allowing issuers not to identify the end-investor at every moment. SG-Forge was among the first entities to be granted an e-money institution (EMI) license under MiCA — a mandatory step to issue regulated stablecoins in the EU.
Plans for Yield and Collateralized Issuance
After nearly a year without significant progress, discussions resumed in May regarding a potential deployment on Morpho Blue. According to sources, SG-Forge is planning to offer EURCV holders yield opportunities through liquidity provision. It also intends to allow users to mint EURCV using ether (ETH) or bitcoin (BTC) as collateral.
An initial pool was quietly launched in July 2024 but later removed from Morpho Blue’s interface. A second pool went live in late January and remains active, but for now, it only allows borrowing EURCV… using EURCV as collateral.
These delays are not unprecedented for SG-Forge. In January 2023, it became the first traditional financial institution to complete a refinancing operation with a DeFi protocol — MakerDAO — after nearly three years of negotiations, according to multiple sources.
Shifting Toward Centralized Partners
This cautious pace partly explains SG-Forge’s strategy of partnering with regulated, centralized players like Bitstamp, Bitpanda, Sygnum and most recently BCB Group, rather than launching directly into DeFi.
“While DeFi remains the main driver of stablecoin adoption today, use cases beyond DeFi are starting to multiply,” explains a market observer who preferred not to be quoted directly. “Forming partnerships with centralized players makes sense, even if SG-Forge is missing out on a major market by not deploying in DeFi.”
Recently, Guillaume Chatain — who was notably hired to lead SG-Forge’s DeFi strategy — departed the firm nearly one year after joining. A former Institutional Sales Director at Coinbase (EMEA) for three years, Chatain has been working with market maker Keyrock since June.
Contacted for comment, SG-Forge has not provided a response at this time.