European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde released a statement on Friday touting the Digital Euro, a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), as a unifying force in the European Union (EU) and said the ECB aims to roll it out “as soon as possible.”
“As long as banknotes continue to circulate, we want cash to be in the form of a digital euro as well,” Lagarde saidadding that the Central Bank Digital Currency Can be used for online payments in the EU. He continued:
“This is a big project because the euro is our currency, your currency. It brings us together. It is a symbol of trust in our common destiny, so we join the digital euro in the next and final stage of preparation.”
The ECB Governing Council announced on Thursday it is early in the development of the technical infrastructure to test and deploy a retail CBDC, Slated to start rolling in 2029if EU lawmakers pass legislation allowing the ECB to issue it.
CBDCs are widely seen as antithetical to cryptocurrency and the underlying ethos of permissioned, decentralized finance (Defi). Critics argue CBDCs create a digital prison That could endanger civil liberties, freedom of speech, and human rights.
Related: The European Central Bank is choosing tech partners for the digital euro
The ECB’s announcement is drawing heavy backlash from the crypto community
The ECB’s announcement drew heavy criticism from the crypto community and received overwhelmingly negative feedback.
“Begone, Witch, We Use Private Money,” Mert Mumtaz, the CEO of Remote Procedure Call (RPC) node provider Helius, write In response to Lagarde and the ECB.
“The common currency is ‘a symbol of trust in our common destiny,’ but the creation of a central digital currency of digital currency trust by opening the door to real-time monitoring of our payments and spending habits,” political writer David Thunder said.
Meanwhile, legal proposals have been submitted from European lawmakers in France and Germany to ban CBDCs and embrace Bitcoin (BTC), a decentralized, neutral, supply-capped digital currency.
Éric Ciotti of the Union of the Right for the Republic, a French political party, led a proposal on Wednesday to ban CBDCs in the country.
The German alternative political party for Germany also submitted a movement In October, the government was urged to Consider BTC as a national strategic asset.
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