Lise Secures EU DLT License to Open Capital Markets to SMEs

French startup Lise has obtained authorization to operate a DLT-based market infrastructure under the EU’s Pilot Regime. Now it wants to open public capital markets to smaller companies.

AuthorAuthor

Louis Tellier & Maximilian Vargas
October 23, 2025

The Federal Reserve just held its first-ever Payments Innovation Conference, and if you squinted, it almost looked like a crypto summit.

Governor Waller set the tone early: “DeFi is not viewed with suspicion or scorn. You are welcome on our home field.”

He seemed serious. Waller followed with the news that the Fed is exploring “skinny master accounts”, which are limited-access versions of Fed accounts that could give fintechs and stablecoin issuers direct entry to payment rails without the full privileges of a bank charter.

That’s a big deal for firms like Kraken and Ripple (both of which have applied), and every stablecoin issuer chasing direct Fed access. Less so for the small partner banks that make a living standing in the middle.

Beyond the policy reveal, the day covered AI in payments, tokenized money market funds, and onchain settlement, with BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and JPMorgan all on stage. You’ll find the full stream here.

Today, we’ll also talk about:

  • Exclusive: ODDO BHF first to hold stablecoin reserves on balance sheet

  • Lise secures EU DLT license to open capital markets to SMEs

  • Crypto ETPs go live for UK retail investors

HIGH SIGNAL NEWS

STABLECOINS

Exclusive: ODDO BHF First to Hold Stablecoin Reserves on Balance Sheet

First one: Last week, ODDO BHF officially launched EUROD, a euro-denominated stablecoin. It is the first European bank to integrate its stablecoin reserves directly into its balance sheet, without setting up a segregated reserve, effectively removing one of the main constraints banks have faced when issuing stablecoins.

  • Why it matters: Under MiCA, electronic money institutions such as Circle or Paxos must hold fully segregated reserves backed one-to-one by liquid assets. Credit institutions, however, are not bound by this requirement, which provides a level of flexibility no bank had used until now.

How others approached it: Société Générale chose not to issue its stablecoin under its banking license, instead launching EURCV and USDCV through SG-Forge, its e-money subsidiary subject to stricter reserve rules. Banking Circle, by contrast, operates under a banking license but still opted for a fully segregated reserve with its EURITE stablecoin launched in August 2024.

The ODDO BHF way: ODDO BHF has taken a different path. Founded in 1849, the Franco-German private bank manages about $150 billion in client assets and €47 billion in total assets. Focused on wealth, asset management, and investment banking, it is one of Europe’s most established mid-sized financial institutions.

Interview: We spoke with ODDO BHF’s Group Deputy COO, Guy de Leusse, about why the bank decided to issue its own euro stablecoin at a time when many banks are joining consortia, and how EUROD fits into the bank’s broader digital-asset strategy.

__________________

On why ODDO BHF decided to launch a stablecoin:

“Over the past few years, we’ve watched the blockchain space evolve from an unregulated niche into a supervised environment governed by the same rules and teams that already oversee banks. That has helped de-demonize the ecosystem and opened it up to serious institutions.

We saw the best entry point as a simple, foundational product: a stablecoin, essentially, cash on the blockchain. It allows us and our clients to participate in onchain finance without adding complexity from day one.

This was not a defensive move, as we don’t see deposit flight as a major risk for us. That concern mainly applies to large retail or commercial banks managing everyday payment accounts. ODDO BHF is a private bank focused on wealth management and savings, not day-to-day transactions. Our clients typically maintain stable, long-term deposits with limited outflows.”

On the use cases ODDO BHF envisions for EUROD:

“In the short term, our focus is on exchanges, where EUROD can serve as a liquidity and risk-management tool, for pair trading, hedging, or simply de-risking portfolios. But the potential goes much further, and we see three main growth areas.

First, cross-border payments: corridors connecting several regions where the bank is already active remain expensive and slow. Stablecoins can enable real-time settlement, lower costs, and greater transparency.

Second, everyday payments: through partnerships with crypto exchanges that issue payment cards, users could spend euros directly from their EUROD balance without leaving the onchain ecosystem.

Third, currency hedging: in non-euro or high-inflation economies, holding a euro-denominated stablecoin offers a straightforward hedge against local currency volatility. That function alone could drive meaningful adoption and contribute to the euro’s internationalization.”

On why the bank chose to issue EUROD directly under its banking license:

“It was by far the simplest structure. Since we already hold a banking license, there was no need to create a separate entity or obtain an e-money authorization, the stablecoin is issued directly from the bank’s balance sheet.

The funds are treated as deposits, fully integrated into our assets and liabilities, and subject to the same prudential and liquidity requirements as the rest of our operations. For now, we remain highly liquid to ensure daily redemptions.

Ultimately, EUROD carries the same counterparty risk as ODDO BHF itself, a regulated European bank with direct access to central-bank liquidity.”

On EUROD’s distribution strategy:

“Our approach is intentionally phased. First, we’re focusing on accessibility and liquidity, getting EUROD listed on multiple centralized and decentralized exchanges so it can be easily traded and integrated into existing ecosystems. To support this, we’ve partnered with the French market maker Flowdesk.

Once liquidity is established, the next step will be to deploy EUROD within DeFi products. The goal is to make EUROD a true market stablecoin with broad circulation, not a niche pilot, and to position ODDO BHF among the leading euro issuers as the market scales from a few hundred million to several billion euros.”

→ We also spoke about ODDO BHF’s compliance setup, risk model, and long-term vision for tokenized money. Full interview here.

TOKENIZATION

Lise Secures EU DLT License to Open Capital Markets to SMEs

Regulatory milestone: French startup Lise has obtained authorization to operate a DLT-based market infrastructure under the EU’s Pilot Regime — the European framework allowing the trading and settlement of tokenized securities under direct supervision. The license allows Lise to act as both a trading venue and a central securities depository, enabling atomic cash settlement without relying on a clearing house.

  • Why it matters: The approval places Lise among only a handful of firms cleared to operate under the regime, alongside 21X, CSD Prague, Axiology DLT, and 360X. But while most peers focus on large institutional markets such as tokenized bonds, funds, and structured products, Lise targets private companies and SMEs. Its goal is to open public capital markets to smaller companies that today depend mostly on private equity or bank loans.

Bridging the equity gap: At the heart of that strategy is the relationship with banks. Lise’s platform is designed to help lenders finance their SME clients by combining equity and debt: a company can raise fresh capital through a small-scale IPO on Lise, then use that equity to secure additional bank financing.

  • “The issuer no longer needs to deal with multiple intermediaries; everything goes through us,” explains Mark Kepeneghian, founder and CEO of Lise. “This model reduces entry costs for SMEs by a factor of four to five compared to today’s system.”

How it works: To make the process manageable for small firms, Lise brings every step of an IPO — due diligence, legal checks, audit, placement banking, and valuation — into a single digital workflow.

  • “We’re already in discussions with around a hundred SMEs, some more advanced than others, with a first listing targeted for early 2026,” Mark Kepeneghian adds.

Tokenized settlement: Unlike peers relying on stablecoins, Lise uses commercial bank money issued by its partner bank through a permissioned, EVM-compatible Hyperledger Besu network.

  • “Once verified, we automatically create a wallet on our blockchain and an IBAN in your name, issued via our partner Memo Bank,” says Kepeneghian. “The tokenized money represents a bank deposit held within that credit institution, legally protected euros covered by deposit insurance, unlike stablecoins.”

Strategic backing: Lise has raised €4.2 million in Series A funding, with Bpifrance, BNP Paribas, and CACEIS (Crédit Agricole) investing directly from their balance sheets.

What’s next: The first listings are expected in 2026, followed by gradual integration with brokers and custodians so investors can access Lise-listed shares directly through their usual banking interfaces.

Christoph Iwaniez is the CEO and Co-founder of Herita Technologies, a platform that tokenizes trade receivables to make them investable through DLT. Before that, he served as managing director at Forge Europe, a leading digital marketplace for private company shares.

Lise is addressing a real need: Europe’s SMEs lack access to equity financing, and building new market infrastructure to fix that makes sense. But technology alone won’t create liquidity. You can put SME shares on a blockchain, yet liquidity depends on information, not code, and most private companies cannot or are not willing to publish the continuous, audited data public markets require.

If you push small caps into a 24/7 exchange model, volatility will run wild, and employees watching their company’s price jump 30% overnight is not healthy for more traditional companies. These firms value privacy and stability more than speculative liquidity.

From my perspective, DLT is better suited for SME debt markets, where interest and risk can be derived from available data and valuation doesn’t depend on constant disclosure. Tokenization can make those assets easier to finance and trade. But for SME equity, without solving the information problem, all you create is a new venue for price swings, not a liquid market.

A conversation with Alex Pollak, Head of UK and New Markets at 21shares, one of Europe’s largest crypto ETP issuers with nearly $11 billion in assets under management. We asked him about the early impact of allowing retail investors to trade crypto ETPs in the UK.

  1. Stablecoins Beyond Payments: The Onchain Lending Opportunity (Visa) — A deep dive into how stablecoins are evolving into programmable credit tools.

  2. State of Crypto 2025 (a16z crypto) — The well-known crypto VC’s annual flagship report on crypto adoption across relevant verticals.

  3. Corporate Treasury in a World of Wallets (Ubyx) — A report outlining how digital wallets and programmable automation could transform corporate treasury.

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