Central banks around the world are moving for a digital currency, the European Central bank as part of this development has approved an investigative phase for its own central bank digital currency (CBDC).
By approving an investigative phase, the European Central Bank (ECB) has taken a significant step toward the launch of its sovereign digital currency aspirations.
The investigation phase would last two years and would focus on various facets of digital money issued by a central bank.
“We have decided to launch a project to prepare for possibly issuing a digital euro. We will look at how a digital euro could be designed and distributed to everyone in the euro area, as well as the impact it would have.” The bank said in a statement to the press.
(THREAD) We have decided to launch a project to prepare for possibly issuing a digital euro. We will look at how a digital euro could be designed and distributed to everyone in the euro area, as well as the impact it would have https://t.co/KCf73qHOZ8 1/3 pic.twitter.com/eHvpFlH8sq
— European Central Bank (@ecb) July 14, 2021
Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, has suggested that the conclusion of the research phase might lead to the launch of the Digital Euro.
“We have decided to move up a gear and start the investigation phase of the digital euro project. In the digital age, people and firms should continue to have access to the safest form of money – central bank money.” Lagarde said in a Tweet.
In an official statement, the ECB stated that it is focusing on privacy and environmental sensitivity. When compared to Bitcoin, it claimed that the Digital Euro’s carbon footprint would be insignificant.
Our experimental work has already allowed us to identify possible ways to protect privacy. It has also shown that the energy needs of the infrastructure would be negligible compared with the energy consumption and environmental footprint of crypto-assets, such as bitcoin.
Central banks around the world have advanced their CBDC preparations in recent months, as China’s testing phase draws to a close.
China finished the development of the CBDC, or digital yuan, in the third quarter of 2019, and it has been widely tested for nearly two years across several provinces.
