European banks deepen move into crypto infrastructure as Societe Generale expands services to crypto firms

French lender Société Générale is broadening services for crypto firms through its digital-asset arm SG-Forge, another sign that major European banks are moving from experimentation toward deeper involvement in blockchain-based finance.

SG-Forge now serves around 15 crypto-native clients, including exchanges, brokers and wallet providers, while increasingly offering more traditional banking services to digital asset companies, according to comments by chief executive Jean-Marc Stenger.

The expansion reflects a broader shift taking shape in Europe following the rollout of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, or MiCA, which has begun giving banks and financial institutions a clearer framework for engaging with the sector.

Rather than treating crypto firms solely as counterparties or risk exposures, some banks are beginning to position them as clients.

“We see the connections established with crypto-native companies as a way to deliver traditional banking services to these entities,” Stenger said in an interview with Reuters.

Stablecoins move closer to banking use cases

The strategy also ties into Société Générale’s longer-term bet that stablecoins could become part of financial market infrastructure, particularly in areas such as collateral management, treasury operations and cross-border settlement.

SG-Forge remains the only major bank to have issued publicly traded stablecoins, including a euro-backed token launched in 2023 and a dollar-denominated token introduced in 2025. Adoption has so far remained modest, however, with issuance volumes still dwarfed by dominant private-sector issuers such as Tether and Circle.

Yet the significance may lie less in current volumes than in what traditional banks are preparing for.

European lenders have increasingly been exploring tokenized deposits, digital collateral rails and euro-based stablecoin infrastructure, as questions around dollar dominance in digital payments and on-chain settlement continue to grow.

Société Générale is not part of a consortium of 10 European banks reportedly working on another euro-pegged stablecoin initiative, though Stenger said bilateral discussions with some participants are underway.

From experimentation to participation

The development highlights a subtle but important shift: large financial institutions are beginning to treat digital assets less as a separate market and more as infrastructure.

While analysts say stablecoins currently have minimal impact on treasury management, the growing willingness of regulated banks to bank crypto companies, issue tokenized money and support blockchain-based settlement suggests the sector is moving beyond pilot-stage experimentation.

For Europe, that may prove as important as any individual stablecoin launch.

As regulatory clarity improves, the next phase of competition may not be whether banks engage with crypto — but how deeply they integrate it into core financial services.

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