Scotti: Digital euro secures public money in digital economy
Banca d'Italia Deputy Governor Chiara Scotti advocated for the digital euro, emphasizing its role in preserving public money access. She stated it is essential for a resilient and integrated European payments market as economic life increasingly digitizes.
Public money in a digital world
Deputy Governor Chiara Scotti highlighted the fundamental shift in payment behavior, noting that the share of consumption paid in cash in the euro area fell from 54 to 39 percent between 2016 and 2024.
Concurrently, online purchase value doubled from 18 to 36 percent between 2019 and 2024.
This transformation means a growing part of economic life occurs where cash, as public money and a direct central bank liability, cannot be used.
Scotti stressed that the digital euro is not merely about creating new digital payments, but about ensuring Europeans retain access to public money in an increasingly digital society.
She stated, "The digital euro is about preserving the singleness of money, supporting efficiency and resiliency in an increasingly digital and fragmented payment ecosystem, and ensuring that public money continues to serve citizens in a digital society.
" This initiative aims to provide a public outside option in payments, which cash traditionally offered in the physical realm.
Singleness, competition, resilience
The digital shift creates three key challenges.
It threatens the singleness of money, as public money's accessibility diminishes online, potentially eroding trust.
It impacts efficiency and competition; payment networks exhibit strong economies of scale, leading to market concentration, with two schemes intermediating two-thirds of euro area card transactions.
Lastly, it raises concerns for resilience and strategic autonomy, especially with reliance on a few extra-European providers.
The Winter Olympics debate highlighted how essential digital payments make governance, openness, and resilience public-interest questions, underscoring the need for public infrastructure.
Public money's digital future
Scotti's address frames the digital euro as a foundational necessity for monetary sovereignty in a digitized economy.
It underscores the central bank's proactive stance in safeguarding public money against market concentration and external dependencies.
Success hinges on balancing public utility with private innovation and broad public acceptance.