Bison Bank issues Portugal's first stablecoins

Bison Bank launched two electronic money tokens on 6 May 2026, becoming the first Portuguese bank to issue a stablecoin. EUB is pegged 1:1 to the euro. USB is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar. Each token in circulation is fully backed by the corresponding fiat currency held on Bison Bank's own balance sheet.

The launch is timed precisely. MiCA's full EU-wide enforcement deadline falls on 1 July 2026, and Tether's USDT has already been delisted across major European exchanges after failing to pursue MiCA authorisation. Bison Bank is filling that gap at the moment it is widest.

The bank, headquartered in Lisbon and wholly owned by Hong Kong-based Bison Capital Holding Company Limited, operates both a full banking licence and the first VASP licence issued by the Bank of Portugal to a bank-owned entity, through its subsidiary Bison Digital Assets, launched in 2022. That prior licensing track record gives it a structural shortcut that non-bank crypto firms cannot replicate. Under MiCA, credit institutions do not need a separate electronic money institution authorisation to issue tokens. They notify a white paper to their regulator and proceed. Circle, which issues the competing EURC stablecoin distributed in part through Bison Digital Assets, does not hold a banking licence and cannot use that route.

The tokens operate within a closed ecosystem restricted to a select group of regulated institutional partners. The bank's stated volume target for the first year is €5 million across both EMTs, a figure that signals the immediate priority is institutional partner acquisition and ecosystem construction rather than revenue scale.

"Bison Bank's goal is to reshape the global financial landscape. Our new e-money token serves as a secure and stable bridge between traditional money and the digital future, focused on creating an efficient, fast, and secure channel for cross-border payments and transfers among a select group of institutional partners. We are merging the reliability of traditional banking with the innovation of digital assets, backed by security, transparency, and our global expertise. The Bison Bank Electronic Money Token is not just a Portuguese product. It is a global e-money token created by a Portuguese bank." — António Henriques, CEO of Bison Bank.

The competitive frame is institutional Europe. Société Générale's SG-FORGE launched its EUR CoinVertible in April 2023 and had approximately €105.6 million in tokens in circulation as of May 2026, setting the market benchmark. The Qivalis consortium, backed by 37 financial institutions including ING, BNP Paribas, and BBVA across 15 countries, is building a competing euro stablecoin network from Amsterdam but has confirmed no public launch date. Bison Bank's MiCA authorisation from the Bank of Portugal carries EU-wide passporting rights across all 27 member states, positioning it to compete on that same institutional terrain before the larger consortium is live.

A merger of Bison Digital Assets into Bison Bank is underway. Once complete and a CASP licence is granted under MiCA, the bank will conduct digital asset activities directly rather than through a subsidiary, consolidating the licensing stack into a single regulated entity.

The stablecoin launch is the first deliverable from a strategic pivot towards tokenisation announced in January 2026. What it unlocks is a bank-grade, MiCA-authorised settlement rail for institutional cross-border payments, domiciled in Portugal, available now, at the precise regulatory moment when the largest competing token has been removed from European venues.