ECB Head Pushes CBDC, Calls it a Unifying Force in Europe

The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, issued a statement on Friday that showed the digital euro, a central bank digital currency (CBDC), as a unifying force in the European Union (EU) and said that the ECB aims to launch it “as soon as possible”.

“As long as banknotes continue to circulate, we want the money to also be in the form of digital euros,” Lagarde. he saidadding that the central bank digital currency could be used for online payments in the EU. She continued:

“This is a great 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 go with the digital euro in the next and last phase of preparation.”

The Governing Council of the ECB announced Thursday that will go ahead with the construction of the technical infrastructure to test and implement a retail CBDC, expected to start launching in 2029if EU lawmakers pass legislation allowing the ECB to issue.

CBDCs are widely seen as antithetical to cryptocurrency and the core ethos of permissionless decentralized finance (DeFi). Critics argue that CBDCs create a digital prison which can endanger civil liberties, freedom of speech and human rights.

Related: The European Central Bank chooses technological partners for the digital euro

The ECB’s announcement sparked a strong reaction from the crypto community

The ECB’s announcement drew strong criticism from the crypto community and received very negative feedback.

“Come on, witch, we’ll use private money,” Mert Mumtaz, the CEO of remote procedure call (RPC) node provider Helius, he wrote in response to Lagarde and the ECB.