ECB Executive Board member Fabio Panetta said in a speech that “a digital euro represents a natural evolution in response to this transformation – not only to underpin efficiency and innovation, but also to preserve the role of the central bank in offering safe means of payment”.
A key goal of digital euro should “should therefore be to preserve a fine balance between sovereign and private money to ensure payments remain stable and efficient.” However, “if innovations in central bank money are not well designed, they can become a source of financial disruption.”
Panetta added that ECB will publish the consultation replies on digital euro in the spring. That would provided the input to the decision on, towards the middle of the year, about whether or not to formally launch a digital euro preparation project.
