They should make WERO more public first. Banks are rolling out WERO slow but steady. Now make it possible to pay with it at supermarkets, online etc…
Currently, around two-thirds of card transactions in the eurozone are processed through international payment schemes, underscoring Europe’s dependence on non-European infrastructure. In many EU countries, domestic alternatives remain weak or non-existent, leaving the payments landscape dominated by US-based companies.
The ECB plans for the digital euro to function as a digital equivalent of cash, with full legal tender status alongside physical banknotes and coins. Officials also aim to create a system that allows transactions without user fees, offering a public alternative to private payment networks.
Im still unsure as how a. digital euro has anyhting to do with b. payment systems. c. money transfers or d. interbank account settlements.
Imo they are usually separate processes, but I guess while they are Eurofying the payment systems they are also releasing a digital euro. And I read this as a pre European monetary Federerion feature atm. Could there be another rationale?
I think they’re going for the Japan version. It’s cash, so you can move it around like cash (money transfers) with a system that works like cash (payment systems). It’s its own thing separate from banks, etc.
move it around like cash
Hadn’t thought of that, it checks out. I had only tried to connect digital euro to the WERO roll out (#e) ( in Northern-Europe).
I hope it will be equally anonymous like cash. Is that how the Japanese version works?
small #e: spelling roll out
I wasn’t sure, since I was going off of another person’s post talking about buying something through the JP post. I looked into it, and it’s still unclear, lol. The other poster made it sound easy, but if you look a little deeper, it doesn’t seem that way.
well it does seem the Euroversion will entail using it as cash anyhow - including privacy - but not sure about anonymity. They’ll keep using cash too ofc
" By complementing cash, the digital euro would make central bank money available for payments, bringing the euro into the digital age. It would support financial inclusion, protect privacy, and make payments easier and more secure for all. This is why we are preparing technically for the possibility of issuing the digital euro once the relevant legislation has been adopted."
official ECB link
Iirc the idea was that it’s tracable on the seller side, but not the buyer side. So anonymous, but tracable for tax purposes. It’ll remain to be seen how much data about the buyer can be inferred anyway.
I don’t trust the EU when it comes to privacy protection, TBH. Maybe it’s going to offer better privacy than systems owned by US banks, but anywhere near equivalent to physical money? No way.
I hope it works out for you guys, it seems great.
