BBVA is the latest financial giant entering the crowded field of stablecoins as the Spanish bank gets set to launch its own digital asset next year with the aid of Visa. In an interview with Fortune, BBVA head of digital assets and blockchain Francisco Maroto said the bank is currently in the sandbox phase of a new Visa program that helps firms launch their own tokenized assets, and wants to reach the prototype phase and live activity by 2025.
BBVA has not yet decided whether the stablecoin will be backed by deposits, money market funds, or fiat currencies such as the euro or the U.S. dollar, said Maroto, who added that the company plans for it to be used for the settlement layer on exchanges.
