The European Central Bank launches the digital euro project
Headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt, Germany.
AFP / Archives
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Faced with the proliferation of cryptocurrencies, the digital euro could see the light of day by 2025. The European Central Bank (ECB) gives this Wednesday, July 14 the green light to this project, the most important since the introduction of the euro .
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Nine months after the publication of a preliminary report and a broad public consultation, the European Central Bank has decided to "
move up a gear and launch the digital euro project
", announced its president Christine Lagarde. The institute will launch the "investigation phase" of this digital euro project which aims to offer the "
safest form of currency
", that of "
central bank money
", indicates a published press release. following a meeting of the Governing Council in Frankfurt. The firm decision on the launch of a digital euro will come only after this 24-month exploratory phase.
With the digital euro, consumers could pay for purchases at a supermarket checkout, online through a smartphone app, also offline using debit card-like payment cards.
But since the digital divide within societies should not be deepened either, the digital euro will not replace cash.
Facilitate transfers
The ECB's objective is to support the development of dematerialized payments, which accelerated with the pandemic. “
A digital euro would be the equivalent of euro banknotes, but in dematerialized form. This form of electronic money would be issued by the Eurosystem (
the ECB and the national central banks
) and accessible to everyone, households and businesses. A digital euro would exist alongside cash, without replacing them,
”says the
European Central Bank
.
The Frankfurt Institute also points to the threat of private cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, or foreign cryptocurrencies like the digital yuan, already available in major Chinese cities. The challenge for the ECB is to persuade European consumers to switch to a new means of payment, secure, fast and stable. This is not the case today with
bitcoin
, whose price is subject to strong variations.
This digital euro will also make it possible to facilitate transfers or payments between Europeans, by limiting bank charges. The ECB has already carried out several experiments on market transactions. A major risk remains, it is that this digital euro weakens the traditional banking sector. This is why many experts, like the president of the Banque de France, recommend that a maximum holding amount be set.
The French and German finance ministries on Wednesday (July 14th) welcomed the decision of the European Central Bank (ECB) to launch an “
important
”
pilot project
.
This program, with "
considerable
"
implications
for European citizens, "
will be conditional on a political decision to be taken by the Member States
", states a joint press release.
Therefore, a “
close involvement of States
” at both the “
political and technical
” level is necessary to define the attributes of this future currency.
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