The European Central Bank, the central bank of the eurozone, hopes to make all political decisions by the beginning of next year to issue a digital euro, and then it will take two to three years to launch the currency, ECB board member Piero Cipollone said on Thursday, UNN reports citing Reuters.
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The ECB has been working on a digital version of the euro for many years, but progress has been slower than expected, mainly because legislation to allow the bank to start operating has not yet been passed, the publication notes.
However, the financial turmoil following the election of Donald Trump as US President, as noted, has increased the urgency, amid Europe's reliance on large US companies for most digital payments, which is a potential vulnerability.
I hope that everything will be done by the beginning of next year, at the beginning of next year. We need legislation, and after that two to three years will be enough to launch the digital euro
Unlike card payments such as Visa or Mastercard, consumers paying with digital money will reportedly have a direct claim on the central bank, and their funds will be similar in function and security to cash.
This, it is noted, will allow customers to make direct payments in both online and offline formats.
Cipollone said a key obstacle is getting a political agreement from EU member states, but that could be achieved by the summer. The work of the European Parliament may take a little longer, he added.
Asked whether Trump could speed up the process, French central bank governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau, speaking at the same event, said it had strengthened the ECB's resolve.
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