ECB's Cipollone: Digital euro offers strategic autonomy, privacy
Piero Cipollone, an Executive Board member of the European Central Bank, explained the strategic advantages and privacy features of the digital euro in an interview. He addressed common misconceptions and highlighted its role in European payment autonomy.
Strategic autonomy for European payments
Piero Cipollone, an Executive Board member of the European Central Bank, highlighted the digital euro's strategic importance for European autonomy.
He emphasized that a European-based payment system, independent of third countries, is crucial.
Cipollone cited the example of International Criminal Court judges sanctioned by the United States, whose US cards were cut off, limiting their ability to pay across Europe.
With a digital euro, they could have continued transactions throughout the euro area.
He also pointed to practical reasons, noting that one-third of all payments are now online, where cash is unusable.
The digital euro would provide a public money option for digital transactions, ensuring citizens are not disadvantaged when paying with public funds.
Addressing privacy fears and misinformation
Addressing privacy concerns, Cipollone clarified that the digital euro would offer privacy akin to cash for offline payments.
When paying offline, not even the bank would know who sent money to whom.
He likened it to a physical wallet, where only money stored on the device would be lost if stolen, but could be recovered.
He firmly rejected claims that the ECB aims to control spending, calling such assertions "nonsense.
" Cipollone explained that "conditional payments" are payer-set automatic transfers, not programmable money.
He affirmed the Eurosystem lacks authority to block specific purchases or mark digital euros for certain uses, only recording transaction amounts and encrypted payer/payee codes.
A necessary step, but a tough sell
The arguments for the digital euro, particularly its strategic autonomy and practical utility in a digital economy, are clearly articulated by Cipollone.
Yet, the persistent public distrust, fueled by what he terms 'disinformation', remains a formidable obstacle to its acceptance.
The ECB's primary challenge now shifts from technical development to effective communication and rebuilding public confidence in the project's privacy safeguards.