Digital Euro
In mid-2021, the European Central Bank (ECB) launched a long-term project to prepare for a digital euro. German Banking Industry Committee (GBIC) welcomes this ECB initiative, as it strengthens the competitiveness of the euro and its currency area - both in relation to other currency areas whose central banks are already working intensively on central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and in relation to private initiatives such as Diem, which want to overtake conventional central bank money.
The German Banking Industry Committee has presented its own detailed thoughts on the design of a “digital euro” in a basic paper. It advocates an ecosystem of innovative forms of money that goes far beyond the idea of digitized central bank money, the so-called Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). According to the GBIC, this ecosystem of digital money therefore consists of three key elements:
• Retail CBDC for private use
• Wholesale CBDC for banks and savings banks
• Cryptocurrency tokens for use in the industr
The digital euro must do three things to be successful: for cunsumers it must be as easy to use as cash. It must be future-proof for companies - for example, for automated machine-to-machine payments. And the digital euro must be well embedded in our finely balanced, carefully secured and highly regulated European financial system. After all, this system ensures that everyone in Europe can participate securely and fairly in financial and credit services.
