Central banks around the world are investigating Central Bank Digital Currencies as a response to the emergence of private stablecoin projects and to meet the needs of an increasingly digitalised economy. The Eurosystem launched a project to investigate key questions regarding the design of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), a digital euro, for the euro area. The investigation aims to prepare us for the potential launch of a digital euro. Experiments have already shown the technological feasibility of all design choices identified in the ECB’s report on a digital euro.

At the same time, the European Commission has proposed a framework for a European Digital Identity that will enable citizens to prove their identity and share electronic documents from their European Digital Identity wallets. A reliable and trusted digital identity is a key building block to developing the digital economy. And it appears to be a desirable complement for the digital euro, to implement e.g. some of the measures considered by the ECB (such as limiting the amounts of holdings of digital euros that citizens might have).

• What is the added value of the digital euro that will make it attractive to consumers?
• How to balance privacy and security of the digital euro?
• What advantages could offer the use of distributed technologies to the digital euro?
• Should a digital euro be programmable? What opportunities and risks would offer a programmable digital euro?
• Is a digital identity needed to implement the digital euro?
• Over the banner of the EU’s Open Strategic Autonomy, how does a digital euro help preserve monetary sovereignty? Is the ECB’s planned timeline adjusted to potentially issue a digital euro?

• Programme

  Opening remarks

  Ondrej Kovarik MEP, EIF Member

  Speakers

  Ignacio Terol, Digital Euro Product Manager, European Central Bank

  Jan Ceyssens, Head of Unit 'Digital Finance', DG FISMA, European Commission

  Juan Jimenez, CEO, Alastria Blockchain Ecosystem; Public Policy Director, Santander Group

  Cesare Fracassi, Director of Economic Research and Chief Economist, Coinbase

  Exchange of views with the participants under the Chatham House rule