Bison Bank launches Portugal's first bank stablecoin

Bison Bank launched EUB and USB on 6 May 2026, becoming the first bank domiciled in Portugal to issue MiCA-compliant electronic money tokens pegged one-to-one to the euro and the US dollar respectively. Each token in circulation is fully backed by the corresponding fiat currency held on Bison Bank's balance sheet.

The Lisbon-headquartered institution holds a full Banco de Portugal credit institution authorisation and operates Portugal's only bank-owned Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) licence. That combination, banking licence plus MiCA-notified EMT issuance, places it as the sole entity able to offer bank-grade settlement and on-chain cross-border payments from within the Portuguese regulated perimeter.

The tokens are restricted, in their initial phase, to institutional counterparties, banks, payment institutions, electronic money institutions, and VASPs and CASPs, with the explicit aim of accelerating liquidity and international transfers between financial institutions rather than serving retail or speculative demand.

The timing is deliberate. Entities registered under older Portuguese national rules must obtain full MiCA licences by 1 July 2026. By notifying Banco de Portugal in advance and completing issuance before that deadline, Bison Bank moves ahead of that transitional cut-off with a live product rather than a pending application.

Legal counsel was provided by Cuatrecasas, with a team led by Nuno Lima da Luz and Tomás Gomes da Silva.

"This was a very exciting, yet complex operation that required harmonising traditional financial regulations with the new challenges of MiCA. We supported Bison Bank from the initial operational and legal structuring through to the drafting of the white paper, seeking maximum rigour throughout the process." — Nuno Lima da Luz, Technology & Telecommunications Partner, Cuatrecasas, May 2026.

In the European MiCA-compliant EMT space, Bison Bank competes against Société Générale's Euro CoinVertible, Circle's EURC, Banking Circle's EURI, and Monerium's EURe. A larger threat sits further out. Nine European lenders, including ING, UniCredit, and CaixaBank, formed an Amsterdam-based entity called Qivalis in September 2025 to issue a consortium euro stablecoin, with launch targeted for the second half of 2026. Bison Bank is live. Qivalis is not.

A merger of Bison Digital Assets into Bison Bank is also underway. Once completed and a CASP licence is granted under MiCA, the bank will be able to conduct digital asset activities directly from within the consolidated entity.

"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, Bison Bank, May 2026.

Bison Bank's private Chinese capital structure, rooted in Hong Kong, and its existing platform connecting European and Asian markets gives the EUB and USB a natural distribution corridor into Asia-Pacific institutional flows, a segment the Qivalis consortium, built around European retail and corporate banking networks, is not primarily targeting.

What the 6 May launch actually unlocks is a narrow but real window. Before Europe's largest banks ship their stablecoin infrastructure, Bison Bank can establish settlement relationships, test clearing workflows, and accumulate institutional volume with Iberian and Asian counterparties on rails that, for now, no Portuguese competitor can legally replicate.