French Retail Giant to Launch Tezos-Based Stablecoin

The new coin is named after a god in Irish mythology and is marked with the stock symbol EURL.

Groupe Casino, a 120-year-old retail conglomerate based in France, is reportedly set to launch a stablecoin pegged to the euro.

According to journalist Grégory Raymond, the French retail giant will launch this stablecoin for use in its store loyalty programs and for transactions. Groupe Casino oversees more than 11,000 stores in France and Latin America.

The token was reportedly developed using the Tezos protocol in partnership with crypto exchange Coinhouse, accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, stablecoin infrastructure provider Sceme, research and development firm Nomadic Labs, and financial services group Societe Generale.

The new stablecoin is called Lugh (named after a god in Irish mythology) and its ticker symbol is EURL. The initial offer will reportedly consist of 500,000 coins, which will be sold exclusively on Coinhouse for “a few months” until the testing phase is complete before being made available on other platforms.

The Bank of France has been actively developing a stablecoin pegged to the euro. The country recently completed a pilot program for a digital euro issued by its central bank in December.

As one of the Big Four accounting firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers or PwC has supported several projects in the cryptocurrency space related to stablecoins. Three years ago, the firm partnered with the decentralized lending platform Cred to launch a dollar-backed stablecoin. In addition, a former partner of PwC said that a stablecoin pegged to the New Zealand dollar will be released in early 2021.