The President of the leading eurozone financial regulator – the European Central Bank – stated that she believes the bank will make a decision on the release of a digital euro at the beginning of next year.
At a policy meeting on November 12, Christine Lagarde announced once again that the ECB is not “in a hurry to be the first” in its endeavor to issue a digital currency of the central bank. However, the results of the consultations started by the central bank on the future of the digital euro will be done in January 2021.
The ECB governor noted that the bank still needs to create a timeline for the final decision on CBDC. Specifically, the ECB has considered measures to combat money laundering and the issue of terrorism financing, in addition to the user privacy and other details.
Lagarde pointed out the Libra token from Facebook, as an example, adding that the central bank cannot hasten with the development of such ambitious projects:
“This is a project that is likely to take maybe two, maybe three, maybe four years, only then it will be launched.”
Lagarde has repeatedly announced its support for the digital euro ever since she was the governor of the International Monetary Fund. Not long ago, the central bank of the eurozone has initiated public consultations to get user feedback on what they expect from the digital euro.
