Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Jul 24, 2025

Privacy, Stability, & Monetary Sovereignty: EU Central Bank Board Member Defends Digital Euro Idea

Privacy, Stability, & Monetary Sovereignty: EU Central Bank Board Member Defends Digital Euro Idea

In an era of increased interest in cryptocurrencies, both unregulated items, like Bitcoin, and "stablecoins", governments around the world are seeking ways of keeping up to date with modern trends. Several central banks are currently exploring the idea of introducing sovereign digital currencies.

The introduction of a digital euro, if it happens, will have a positive impact on both consumers and governments, a member of the European Central Bank's (ECB) Executive Board, Fabio Panetta has suggested in an interview with the Financial Times. The board member put a strong emphasis on the projected digital euro being able to better protect consumers' private data than any "stablecoin" – a privately issued cryptocurrency backed by real assets, unlike decentralised ones such as Bitcoin.

"If the central bank gets involved in digital payments, privacy is going to be better protected […] because we are not like private companies. We have no commercial interest in storing, managing, or monetising the data of users", the ECB board member stressed.

According to Panetta, the ECB believes that people's main concern when it comes to the digital euro is the erosion of privacy. He claimed that unlike privately established cryptocurrencies, such as Facebook's planned stablecoin Diem, no person in the transaction chain will have access to the full information about the transaction, meaning no one will be able to easily pin a specific transaction to a person.

He added that smaller transactions of up to 70 or 100 euros will be completely anonymous as they will be done via a Bluetooth connection between two devices. Larger transactions, however, will have some level of government oversight in order to prevent the use of the digital euro, an electronic version of the EU's currency, for money laundering and other illicit activities.

"A payment can be reconstructed [after the event] if the police want to assess whether there's been any illicit activity", Panetta explained.

'Threat' to EU Monetary Sovereignty


In contrast to the planned digital euro, decentralised cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, already provide complete anonymity for both sides of the transaction regardless of its size, at least to the point before a person decides to convert their cryptocurrency into an ordinary central-bank issued currency. This is why unregulated cryptocurrencies have recently been favoured by those involved in criminal activities, such as drug trafficking or ransomware and why many governments around the world, as well as the ECB, have considered ways of countering the decentralised cryptos – from outright bans to offering a centralised alternative.

"If people do want to pay digitally and we do not offer them a digital means of payment, somebody [else] would do that", Panetta elaborated.

The emergence and growing popularity of unregulated cryptocurrencies are perceived as a "threat" that can undermine the EU's monetary sovereignty, the member of the ECB's Executive Board stated. The digital euro might become the central bank's answer to this challenge, he explained.

Yet, its introduction is not a done deal as discussions are still underway. The initiative is opposed by commercial banks, which expect an exodus of client money in favour of digital euro tokens. Such a scenario might prompt a crisis due to the loss of liquidity. Fabio Panetta, however, assures that the ECB won't let the digital euro undermine commercial banks' stability too much. One of the planned ways to do that is by either limiting the amount of euros a person can hold in their digital wallet to 3,000 or by incentivising people against having sums above that limit, the ECB board member said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
×