Good news: ECB delays CBDC launch to 2029

[Lucius]

The war knocks the european door. This is an important point that no one talked about when discussing the CBDC failure in ECB. The first thought that came to my mind is about who will be able to use this CBDC euro at the time of war.

There is no war in the literal sense, because who will attack the EU? If anyone thinks that Russia is ready to attack the EU, whose members are also members of the NATO alliance, without it ending very badly for them, then they are badly mistaken. NATO has tens of millions of active soldiers from 32 countries, and is there anyone in Russia stupid enough to oppose such a force when they cannot defeat Ukraine in three years?

Besides, why would war as such be an obstacle to something digital - all you need is an application on your smartphone and a system controlled by the European Central Bank - paying with digital euro is no different from paying with a virtual bank card online or via a POS device.

[Abiky]

There is no denying that the ECB has always had an unfriendly, if not hostile, attitude towards crypto in general. In 2025, crypto has become globally popular and matured significantly, but instead of promoting it like the US. The EU and ECB continue to warn about risks such as asset bubbles and illegal activities related to crypto.

But I don't think they will ban them after release CBDC. If they ban crypto, they will lose a significant source of tax revenue and face many challenges and disadvantages by refusing to integrate with the development of technology. Instead, there will likely be tighter regulations on crypto, and I wouldn't be surprised if they ban the use of non-custodial wallets and force investors to only use centralized services they manage.

The EU will be stuck in the "stone age" if it keeps doing what it's doing. Other countries are way ahead in the game. Particularly, the US with its embracement of crypto/Blockchain tech and AI. While the EU hates crypto, it's pushing for the development of a CBDC backed by the ECB. In other words, they hate the decentralized and censorship-resistant nature of crypto, but not the tech itself. They want to make use of the tech for their very own CBDC.

Even so, we're not sure if the "Digital Euro" will make use of Blockchain tech. The ECB can simply make use of a centralized database system that would serve as the "backbone" for their CBDC. Who cares, anyways? CBDCs are the very anti-thesis of privacy and freedom. I'm sure most Europeans will disagree with the idea. Since the launch was pushed until 2029, we can assume the idea/proposal is already dead. Only time will tell...

[davis196]

I'm not sure if this is good news or bad news(or neutral at least). Should we really be scared of the digital euro? I think that the digital euro is not that big of a deal(after all, we have cryptocurrencies as a backup plan for our personal wealth). The real problem would be the EU governments and the European Central Bank imposing a total ban against crypto in order to push the adoption of the digital euro. This should never happen and I do believe that it will never happen. The people are free to invest in whatever financial assets and currencies they want(as long as those financial assets aren't a total ponzi scheme).

[tygeade]

The EU will be stuck in the "stone age" if it keeps doing what it's doing. Other countries are way ahead in the game. Particularly, the US with its embracement of crypto/Blockchain tech and AI. While the EU hates crypto, it's pushing for the development of a CBDC backed by the ECB. In other words, they hate the decentralized and censorship-resistant nature of crypto, but not the tech itself. They want to make use of the tech for their very own CBDC.

Even so, we're not sure if the "Digital Euro" will make use of Blockchain tech. The ECB can simply make use of a centralized database system that would serve as the "backbone" for their CBDC. Who cares, anyways? CBDCs are the very anti-thesis of privacy and freedom. I'm sure most Europeans will disagree with the idea. Since the launch was pushed until 2029, we can assume the idea/proposal is already dead. Only time will tell...

Which wouldn't be the first to be fair. Germany sold their bitcoins, worth something like 3 billion dollars, right at bear market when it was super low, which they could have gotten easily 10+ billion dollars if they waited, maybe even 20 billion dollars if they sold at peak all time high price. Same was done by UK, which decided to sell their bitcoins to pay off some debt they had, instead of holding, which they could have easily doubled or tripled their money if they just held.

These nations worth trillions end up reacting to crypto like some weak hand poor person who is afraid their investment will be gone .Reality is simple ,is not going to go low, it is going to keep growing on long term and Europe has always been a step behind.

[Cookdata]

I'm not sure if this is good news or bad news(or neutral at least). Should we really be scared of the digital euro? I think that the digital euro is not that big of a deal(after all, we have cryptocurrencies as a backup plan for our personal wealth). The real problem would be the EU governments and the European Central Bank imposing a total ban against crypto in order to push the adoption of the digital euro. This should never happen and I do believe that it will never happen. The people are free to invest in whatever financial assets and currencies they want(as long as those financial assets aren't a total ponzi scheme).

You know one thing about people, they don't like things that are too regulated, whether the person is a crypto person or just a regular person that like traditional finance, they don't like financial instrument that are too regulated and are too controversial because of government involvement. I don't know how the future it CBDC is going to end and not like I care but you see this CBDC, if the government is really interested in it, there is going to be one since before now.

My country launched one, I was following them at some point to see the progress, they had an app but I knew it wouldn't end well. How many institutions has my country try to elevate that never work out but the government want to provide CBDC for people. I believe one day, if the government decide to open an investigations on spendings and the money that has been siphoned from this scams, a lot of individuals will go to jail, this has been long overdue.

[coupable]

The war knocks the european door. This is an important point that no one talked about when discussing the CBDC failure in ECB. The first thought that came to my mind is about who will be able to use this CBDC euro at the time of war.

There is no war in the literal sense, because who will attack the EU? If anyone thinks that Russia is ready to attack the EU, whose members are also members of the NATO alliance, without it ending very badly for them, then they are badly mistaken. NATO has tens of millions of active soldiers from 32 countries, and is there anyone in Russia stupid enough to oppose such a force when they cannot defeat Ukraine in three years?

In my opinion, there is no explanation for European support for Ukraine except its fear of the expansion of Russian influence into other parts of Europe. Since the first year of war, it became clear that Russia wants to occupy more terratories which made Poland the potential targets if Russia succeeded in ubjugating Ukraine completely. 32 NATO countries can't stop Russia from occupying more territory in Ukraine and sending drones into the airspace of neighboring NATO member states (Denmark, Norway, Poland...). Every part has his own allies supporting him, and Russia isn't foolish enough to enter a world war without enough guarantees (economic support isn't less important than military support).

In wartime, I don't expect anyone outside the European Union would accept using CBDCs to conduct business with Europe. I'm not talking about individuals using their phones.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

There is no war in the literal sense, because who will attack the EU? If anyone thinks that Russia is ready to attack the EU, whose members are also members of the NATO alliance, without it ending very badly for them, then they are badly mistaken. NATO has tens of millions of active soldiers from 32 countries, and is there anyone in Russia stupid enough to oppose such a force when they cannot defeat Ukraine in three years?

The war is the most ridiculous excuse I have ever heard to justify imposing heavy taxes on the population with the agreement they have reached with the USA to purchase weapons. What kind of war can you foresee starting four years in advance? Rubbish.

Returning to the central theme of the thread, even the banks have spoken out against the digital euro. I think this is one of the few times in my life that I agree with them.

ECB’s digital euro plan hits resistance from banks and EU lawmakers

<...> paying with digital euro is no different from paying with a virtual bank card online or via a POS device.

That is the question. There is no advantage to paying with Euro CBD over the payment systems we have now, while there are a lot of potential drawbacks, denied, of course, by the politicians who want to launch it.

[Abiky]

Which wouldn't be the first to be fair. Germany sold their bitcoins, worth something like 3 billion dollars, right at bear market when it was super low, which they could have gotten easily 10+ billion dollars if they waited, maybe even 20 billion dollars if they sold at peak all time high price. Same was done by UK, which decided to sell their bitcoins to pay off some debt they had, instead of holding, which they could have easily doubled or tripled their money if they just held.

These nations worth trillions end up reacting to crypto like some weak hand poor person who is afraid their investment will be gone .Reality is simple ,is not going to go low, it is going to keep growing on long term and Europe has always been a step behind.

Germany did a huge mistake by selling those Bitcoins. It thought BTC was going to crash after a sustained bullish period. Turns out, Germany was wrong. Maybe now they've learned their mistake? While EU countries allow people to use crypto, their regulations are so strict that privacy/freedom is limited.

I've read that the EU will be requiring all crypto transactions to be KYC-compliant. They will ultimately hunt down non-custodial wallets and services in an effort to "curtail" "criminal" activity. Meanwhile, the US continues to embrace crypto with open arms. Regulations are getting flexible by the day. US lawmakers drafted a bill in an effort to prevent the central bank (The FED) from launching its own CBDC (aka Digital Dollar). Things are going to get worse for the EU in a few years from now. I hope they change their mind before it's too late.

[NeuroticFish]

Germany did a huge mistake by selling those Bitcoins. It thought BTC was going to crash after a sustained bullish period. Turns out, Germany was wrong. Maybe now they've learned their mistake?

I tend to believe that the reason for the delay is somewhat related to this.
I'm sure that they've noticed that the American continent is embracing Bitcoin and I think that this delay is meant to give them the chance to double check before pissing against the wind.
The delay period is also interesting. If my math is correct, in 2029 we may be at the end of a crypto winter and have the start of the next bull. I guess that they want to see the sentiment of the financial companies which have adopted Bitcoin and how many give up in the bear market.

[justdimin]

In my opinion, there is no explanation for European support for Ukraine except its fear of the expansion of Russian influence into other parts of Europe. Since the first year of war, it became clear that Russia wants to occupy more terratories which made Poland the potential targets if Russia succeeded in ubjugating Ukraine completely. 32 NATO countries can't stop Russia from occupying more territory in Ukraine and sending drones into the airspace of neighboring NATO member states (Denmark, Norway, Poland...). Every part has his own allies supporting him, and Russia isn't foolish enough to enter a world war without enough guarantees (economic support isn't less important than military support).

In wartime, I don't expect anyone outside the European Union would accept using CBDCs to conduct business with Europe. I'm not talking about individuals using their phones.

What else do you really need??? Lol, I mean fear of Russian expansion is a pretty good reason to be supporting Ukraine, you really do not need any more reason than that lol. If they didn't support Ukraine and made it hard for Russia to just take it, then next up would be other nations like you said, so you know what Europe and USA did? They made it as hard for Russia as possible.

This is why Russia is landlocked in that two regions, they are not moving further, they are not moving back, they are just stuck there. Ukraine wants those back, Russia do no want to give it back, and they will keep going back and forth between those. As long as that exists, Russia can't move to other places and want even more lands.

[coupable]

In my opinion, there is no explanation for European support for Ukraine except its fear of the expansion of Russian influence into other parts of Europe. Since the first year of war, it became clear that Russia wants to occupy more terratories which made Poland the potential targets if Russia succeeded in ubjugating Ukraine completely. 32 NATO countries can't stop Russia from occupying more territory in Ukraine and sending drones into the airspace of neighboring NATO member states (Denmark, Norway, Poland...). Every part has his own allies supporting him, and Russia isn't foolish enough to enter a world war without enough guarantees (economic support isn't less important than military support).

In wartime, I don't expect anyone outside the European Union would accept using CBDCs to conduct business with Europe. I'm not talking about individuals using their phones.

What else do you really need??? Lol, I mean fear of Russian expansion is a pretty good reason to be supporting Ukraine, you really do not need any more reason than that lol. If they didn't support Ukraine and made it hard for Russia to just take it, then next up would be other nations like you said, so you know what Europe and USA did? They made it as hard for Russia as possible.

This is why Russia is landlocked in that two regions, they are not moving further, they are not moving back, they are just stuck there. Ukraine wants those back, Russia do no want to give it back, and they will keep going back and forth between those. As long as that exists, Russia can't move to other places and want even more lands.

Russia is fighting against them all (Europe,USA,Nato) because Ukraine is using west arms and its army is coached by west agents. Ukraine is just the land of fight. FYI, the war has already started and Russia aims to expand its operations out from Ukraine. You know who leads the west camp? It is the USA. So this is why Europe expressed its fear after the last meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska. If the USA and Russia sign a peaceful agreement to divide Ukraine between them (Russia takes the land and the USA takes the ressources), i guess Putin won't hesitate to invade another country even if it belong to NATO (Poland the first in the list).

Back to economy, Europe is suffering from applying sanctions to Russia because it needs the Russian producers and the Russian markets. If the situation stays at the point it is today, then Europe has no efforts to fight Russia by all measures.

[bitgolden]

The trouble for the whole humanity is that, you can destroy Russia today, literally send them all back in a single hour, how? Well the superior missile and air army is clear proof of that, USA has so much army that, the second biggest air force in the world is USA naval forces, the first is of course their air forces.

So think how easy it would be to just simply drop bombs and clear out that entire place, they can turn that into a pure rubble, no stone left type of thing. So why not do that? When they can and when they are capable of affording it, then why not do it? Because of diplomacy? Of course not, they do not care about it, even west could attack and take it. One reason only; nuclear weapons. Russia has nuclear weapons and as long as they do, it's a risk to defeat them.

[abhiseshakana]

That is the question. There is no advantage to paying with Euro CBD over the payment systems we have now, while there are a lot of potential drawbacks, denied, of course, by the politicians who want to launch it.

To answer this question, perhaps the right question is, who benefits most?

At the political and economic level, the incentives are:
ECB, drastically increased monetary power
EU technocrats, greater fiscal control
Member state governments, tax revenues, control of the informal economy
Commercial banks, still get a slice of the pie, albeit a smaller one
EU fintech community, reduced dependence on the US

From the perspective of global elite interests, the actors who benefit most are:
Central Bank cartel (ECB, BIS), data, control, and more precise policymaking capabilities in one hand
EU technocratic elite, expanding socio-economic control
Data corporations & AI, mass financial profiling
Global actors like the WEF and IMF, harmonizing the global digital financial system

In this project, citizens receive minimal convenience, but with the added risk of greater control and diminished privacy. I see the digital euro as more of an institutional mutation than a financial innovation. There is a shift of power from the market and the state to technocratic structures. When the phenomenon of global monetary power restructuring occurs, the actors who benefit most are not consumers or the retail sector, but rather institutions that are at the intersection of digital technology and sovereign monetary control.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

In this project, citizens receive minimal convenience, but with the added risk of greater control and diminished privacy. I see the digital euro as more of an institutional mutation than a financial innovation. There is a shift of power from the market and the state to technocratic structures. When the phenomenon of global monetary power restructuring occurs, the actors who benefit most are not consumers or the retail sector, but rather institutions that are at the intersection of digital technology and sovereign monetary control.

I quite agree with everything you've said but perhaps I would qualify the phrase ‘minimal convenience’. I don't see any convenience in it at all. The electronic payment systems available to us are already quite convenient, which is why more and more people are using them and paying less in cash. The ECB and politicians may try to convince us that it is somehow beneficial, but their arguments will be rubbish for gullible people more than anything else.

[o48o]

-cut-
I think they have chosen a four-year delay because they want to see if the government in the US changes. A CBDC that can only be used within the EU makes no sense.

It's more likely that tech isn't ready yet. Or at least any kind of tech that anyone would want to use. Or tech that's practical enough.
There are ton of issues i can see in terms of supply chain safety, GDPR and other EU privacy regulations. Not to mention that scalability of it needs to be next level.

Frankly i am not even sure what "launch" would entail, because it's unlikely it's going to be EU-wide at the start.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

It's more likely that tech isn't ready yet.

I think it is more likely that they are lying, they are dumb or a combination of both. In March, they announced that they wanted to launch the Euro CBDC by October, as I explained in the OP. If you make that announcement, it's because you have the technology or expect to have everything ready soon. So, I don't buy your theory.

[Abiky]

It's more likely that tech isn't ready yet. Or at least any kind of tech that anyone would want to use. Or tech that's practical enough.
There are ton of issues i can see in terms of supply chain safety, GDPR and other EU privacy regulations. Not to mention that scalability of it needs to be next level.

Frankly i am not even sure what "launch" would entail, because it's unlikely it's going to be EU-wide at the start.

Nah. They just need more time to plan how to roll out their CBDC to the public. A quick launch would be met with much skepticism. After all, people aren't going to be comfortable with a digital currency where the government can track all of their activities. At least, not in the very beginning. The process of launching the "Digital Euro" should be a slow and steady one. Careful testing of the core tech powering the CBDC should be done prior to rolling it out to the public. Otherwise, unwanted security vulnerabilities and/or flaws will arise.

Considering that the EU is "anti-crypto", a CBDC would be the perfect way to empower the corrupt Fiat money system. All in bid to declare crypto usage "illegal" within the bloc. We'll see what happens in the long run.

[fillippone]

It's more likely that tech isn't ready yet. Or at least any kind of tech that anyone would want to use. Or tech that's practical enough.
There are ton of issues i can see in terms of supply chain safety, GDPR and other EU privacy regulations. Not to mention that scalability of it needs to be next level.

Frankly i am not even sure what "launch" would entail, because it's unlikely it's going to be EU-wide at the start.

Nah. They just need more time to plan how to roll out their CBDC to the public. A quick launch would be met with much scepticism.

By the time 2029 arrives, Europe will be negligible in the Digital Asset class if it sticks to this stance.
Genius compliant stablecoins will have a market cap in the trillions of dollars, with such a convoluted and stratified layer of applications that it will be simply impossible to untangle and redeploy on a Euro CBDC.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

By the time 2029 arrives, Europe will be negligible in the Digital Asset class if it sticks to this stance.
Genius compliant stablecoins will have a market cap in the trillions of dollars, with such a convoluted and stratified layer of applications that it will be simply impossible to untangle and redeploy on a Euro CBDC.

That's right, the Euro CBDC will be, if it ever gets launched, a compartmentalised thing, which in principle could only be used in the EU. Meanwhile, if you are an EU citizen, you will have been paying with your VISA or Mastercard from your mobile phone or watch for years. And with stablecoins you will also have many more options to exchange them for fiat currencies and as time goes by for paying around the world.

[Abiky]

By the time 2029 arrives, Europe will be negligible in the Digital Asset class if it sticks to this stance.
Genius compliant stablecoins will have a market cap in the trillions of dollars, with such a convoluted and stratified layer of applications that it will be simply impossible to untangle and redeploy on a Euro CBDC.

True. Other countries will already be ahead in the game, leaving the EU behind in the dust. Seems like their only option would be to regulate EUR-based stablecoins and make them their "own" (like de-facto digital currencies of the EU). Sort of like how the US is doing right now. It didn't launch its own CBDC, but passed a law to further regulate stablecoins (aka GENIUS Act).

Technically, USD-based stablecoins will do the same thing as a standard CBDC issued by the FED. The only difference is that companies are in-charge of the underlying mechanics of said stablecoins. They'll still need to "report" to the government, though. So indirectly, the US government will have control over Americans' digital financial life. Who's to say the EU will adopt the same strategy in the future? For what I know, anything's possible. We'll see what happens by 2029.