Santander, BBVA, Trade Republic, and Western Union to debate the future of stablecoins at MERGE Madrid 2026

Four approaches anticipating the future of digital money

BBVA, Banca Sella, BNP Paribas, CaixaBank, Cecabank, Intesa Sanpaolo, Kutxabank, Piraeus Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, and Bankinter will present their role in Qivalis, the alliance bringing together 37 financial institutions across 15 European countries to promote a euro-denominated stablecoin. The project aims to offer faster, cheaper payments and transfers available 24/7, as well as facilitate the settlement of digital assets within a regulated environment. Its commercial launch is planned for the second half of 2026, subject to relevant authorization.

Santander will address the initiative it is exploring alongside Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, MUFG, TD Bank, and UBS to issue a form of digital money backed one-to-one by reserves and available on public blockchains. The project studies currencies linked to G7 currencies and reflects how international banking seeks to build common standards to operate with digital money securely and in a regulated manner.

Trade Republic will share the perspective of one of Europe’s leading investment and savings platforms on incorporating digital assets into everyday financial services. Its participation will allow an analysis of what retail investors demand, how simple and regulated access to crypto-assets can be facilitated, and what role digital platforms will play in adopting new financial infrastructures in Europe.

Western Union will present USDPT, its dollar-denominated stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank and built on Solana. The company is integrating this asset into its Digital Asset Network to connect digital money with real-world uses: 24/7 transfers, payments, and conversion to local currency across its international network. The initiative shows how stablecoins can complement cash and remittance infrastructure rather than operating as an isolated circuit.

“For the first time, banks, fintechs, and major payment companies are not coming to debate whether stablecoins will play a role in the financial system, but rather to explain how they are building and integrating them, and what specific problems they aim to solve with them. MERGE Madrid will be the venue where we can compare these models and understand what form digital money will take in Europe and Latin America,” explains Paula Pascual, founder of MERGE.

Why everyone wants to launch a stablecoin now

The interest coincides with a decisive moment for the industry. The MiCA regulation has established a specific framework in Europe for the issuance and commercialization of crypto-assets, while the growth of dollar-pegged stablecoins has opened a debate on monetary sovereignty and Europe’s ability to develop its own payment infrastructures.

For financial entities, these currencies allow exploring near-instant international transfers, programmable payments, continuously available operations, and settlements of tokenized assets without relying on traditional hours. For payment and remittance platforms, they offer the possibility of reducing intermediaries and directly connecting digital money with merchants, bank accounts, and cash pickup points.

The discussion at MERGE Madrid will go beyond technology. Participants will analyze who should issue these currencies, how reserves are protected, what guarantees users need, how they can coexist with bank deposits and the future digital euro, and which model is most likely to achieve real adoption.

Madrid brings together the banking sector building the new digital money

The program will gather leaders in banking, payments, investment, regulation, blockchain infrastructure, and digital assets. Confirmed speakers include Coty de Monteverde, Global Head of Crypto & Digital Assets at Banco Santander; Francisco Maroto, Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets at BBVA; as well as representatives from Trade Republic, Western Union, Qivalis, Mastercard, Ripple, and other companies developing next-generation financial infrastructure.

The October 27 session will take place at the Madrid Stock Exchange with an Institutional Summit aimed at banks, investors, regulators, and industry leaders. On October 28 and 29, Cibeles Palace will host the main conference, with over 3,000 attendees and 250 international speakers from Europe and Latin America.

In addition to stablecoins and digital payments, the agenda will cover tokenization, custody, regulation, capital markets, Bitcoin, artificial intelligence applied to finance, and new blockchain infrastructures. MERGE thus reinforces its position as a bridge between traditional banking and the digital asset ecosystem on both sides of the Atlantic.