Good news: ECB delays CBDC launch to 2029

[fillippone]

The ecb is in full comfusion right now about their strategy.

This is the latest speech by Christine Lagarde about stablecoins:
Stablecoins and the future of money: separating functions from instrument


Where you can read statements like this:

[Stablecoins...] As their adoption has expanded and their links to the real financial system are deepening, the risks they pose have come firmly into focus, especially as regards financial stability. These concerns have been particularly acute in parts of Latin America and Africa, but they are now firmly part of the policy debate in advanced economies as well.

Are you serious?

Stablecoins were initially designed to solve a narrow problem within the crypto ecosystem: price volatility.
To make a specific type of crypto-asset usable for settlement, the creators of stablecoins anchored them mainly to fiat money,
the very system they had originally sought to bypass, backing each token one-for-one with cash and short-dated government debt.

Well, not quite true.

I won't consume energy trying to debunk this series of nonsense that makes me ashamed of being European.

[Abiky]

Good news? I find this to be not good at all. I would love it if governments involve with crypto more and more, we all cheered when El Salvador made bitcoin a legal tender, and I would cheer the same way when governments have their own stablecoins.

Why would I want to use a stablecoin made by tether, a random company I do not even know, when I could use a stablecoin from a government that I could trust? This is why I would prefer that this would happen and not be something that gets postponed even further.

Well, people are starting to lose trust in governments. Especially with corruption rising to levels never seen before. We might reach a point where people won't even trust governments' own CBDCs. They will only "trust" Bitcoin because of its decentralized design. This might become a reality in the distant future. If somehow governments regain that trust, then you can bet the majority will choose a CBDC over a stablecoin. Companies can easily get hacked, bankrupted, or shut down by the government. But central banks? They will continue to exist as long as governments are relevant.

I don't think a EURO-backed CBDC is going to happen during our lifetime. It's way too early for this. Countries within the EU bloc can't agree on common things or remain united. You think they're going to go full-steam ahead with a CBDC that easily? I'd just sit back and relax. There's nothing to worry about.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Why would I want to use a stablecoin made by tether, a random company I do not even know, when I could use a stablecoin from a government that I could trust?

Given how little brainpower you’ve got, I’m not surprised you’re spouting such rubbish.

The ecb is in full comfusion right now about their strategy.

<...>

I won't consume energy trying to debunk this series of nonsense that makes me ashamed of being European.

Well done – just as I’m not going to waste my time tearing down the fool quoted earlier. Lagarde works to serve the interests of an elite, not the people. When you bear that in mind everything makes more sense.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Bump.

2029 may seem a long way off, but the ECB is continuing to take steps towards its implementation. Here is the latest news:

Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

The European Central Bank secured key parliamentary backing on Tuesday for the launch ​of a digital euro, an electronic means of payments aimed at making the euro zone less reliant on U.S. credit cards at a time of fraying ‌transatlantic relationships.

<...>

The ECB, which plans to run a 12-month pilot of the digital euro starting in the second half of next year ​before a full launch in 2029, said it looked forward to Parliament adopting its final position.

Reuters has bought into the ECB’s line. Personally, I’d prefer American companies to hold my purchase data, and if they want to investigate me, they’d have to send a legal request to the ECB to obtain my data in real time. Apart from the element of control that this entails, as has been discussed in this thread.

[DrBeer]

Good news for residents of the Eurozone, but also for everyone else. The ECB had accelerated its headlong rush and intended to launch the digital euro this October.

Now the news has come out that they are postponing the launch until 2029, although they are not selling it that way; it seems they want us to forget what they said in March (about launching in October).

Eurosystem moving to next phase of digital euro project

But those of us who have been paying attention to the issue are not fooled. This is a huge delay that looks more like capitulation.

The long-awaited digital euro — the European Central Bank’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) project — is facing another delay, with its launch now projected for mid-2029.

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.

I suggest not to look for a problem where there is none, but to assess reality.
 
Leaving aside the fact that CBDC technology is a technology of total control of money, the next biggest problem of CBDC is not the technology, but the banking model.
Today, people's money is mostly in the accounts of commercial banks. It is these deposits that are the source of funding for lending to the economy. If the digital euro emerges, which is a direct central bank liability, many may prefer to keep funds there, especially in times of instability.
The result could be the digital equivalent of a banking panic during a crisis:
-In the morning, disturbing news breaks
-within minutes, millions of people transfer money from commercial banks to CBDCs
-bank liquidity disappears almost instantly.

Such scale and speed of banking panics simply did not exist before, and even could not be modeled in real conditions due to technological peculiarities.

This is why virtually all CBDC projects include restrictions:
-limits on the balance (for example, amounts on the order of several thousand euros have been discussed)
-no interest on the balance
-sometimes even negative yields if the limits are exceeded.

In other words, the ECB itself does not want the digital euro to become a full-fledged substitute for bank deposits.As far as I am concerned, this is where the key problem of the CBDC lies, for the state and the banking system

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Such scale and speed of banking panics simply did not exist before, and even could not be modeled in real conditions due to technological peculiarities.

This is why virtually all CBDC projects include restrictions:
-limits on the balance (for example, amounts on the order of several thousand euros have been discussed)
-no interest on the balance
-sometimes even negative yields if the limits are exceeded.

In other words, the ECB itself does not want the digital euro to become a full-fledged substitute for bank deposits for now.

I added those words in bold. Yes, I see your point, but the problem is that once that technology has been implemented with those initial restrictions, there’s a potential risk down the line. They slip it in bit by bit without you realising, until they’ve really got you.

[DrBeer]

Such scale and speed of banking panics simply did not exist before, and even could not be modeled in real conditions due to technological peculiarities.

This is why virtually all CBDC projects include restrictions:
-limits on the balance (for example, amounts on the order of several thousand euros have been discussed)
-no interest on the balance
-sometimes even negative yields if the limits are exceeded.

In other words, the ECB itself does not want the digital euro to become a full-fledged substitute for bank deposits for now.

I added those words in bold. Yes, I see your point, but the problem is that once that technology has been implemented with those initial restrictions, there’s a potential risk down the line. They slip it in bit by bit without you realising, until they’ve really got you.

It's not a trap, it's a trend. This technology gives TOTAL control over our money, total control, and our money is no longer our money.
You may have noticed that in recent years there has been a trend to reduce the turnover of cash, and the transition to "cashless" settlements with the help of payment cards and similar services that record all our actions with money. But this mechanism is not as effective as CBDC.
And so far, in my opinion, there is only one critical problem - it is essentially a "single account" of the user, which is owned by the state. As soon as this problem is solved by something like "crosschain" for other banks, CBDC will be launched almost instantly !

[WillyAp]

It's not a trap, it's a trend.

A trend which is hopefully bound to change:
https://www.nationalbanken.dk/en/news-and-knowledge/publications-and-speeches/analysis/2023/the-role-of-cash-in-a-society-with-low-usage-of-cash

Ordinary people don't think that war could happen tomorrow.
The closer you are to it the more important cash becomes:
https://merchantmachine.co.uk/most-reliant-on-cash/

There are countries you need cash, and no ccard would help you there either:
https://travelculturelife.com/15-nations-where-credit-cards-are-basically-useless/

[DrBeer]

It's not a trap, it's a trend.

A trend which is hopefully bound to change:
https://www.nationalbanken.dk/en/news-and-knowledge/publications-and-speeches/analysis/2023/the-role-of-cash-in-a-society-with-low-usage-of-cash

Ordinary people don't think that war could happen tomorrow.
The closer you are to it the more important cash becomes:
https://merchantmachine.co.uk/most-reliant-on-cash/

There are countries you need cash, and no ccard would help you there either:
https://travelculturelife.com/15-nations-where-credit-cards-are-basically-useless/

Yes, Denmark started one of the first "drifting into a cashless sea"
Regarding the war. I am a citizen of Ukraine and know "very well" what war is. But in Ukraine the Bansko system showed the highest class, and work with cards was suspended only in the territories temporarily occupied by the terrorist army of the Russian Federation. Bank networks worked perfectly, all services were fully operational, including cash withdrawals. But I assume that such a situation may not be everywhere.

The fact that not all countries are actively working with card accounts is not nonsense.
Somewhere there is a strong infusion of tradition, somewhere there is a lack of infrastructure, or simply they are not in demand.
But most likely this is due to the low development of private banks.
 
 

[fillippone]

With the Open USD consortium, the world is demonstrating where we are headed.
Not CBDC, but a Stablecoins consortium gathering financial services, money transmitters, crypto native, and tech under the same umbrella.
CBDCs, and Digital Euro in particular,  are the delusional aim of an institution, the ECB, that is losing traction by the day.

[Abiky]

With the Open USD consortium, the world is demonstrating where we are headed.
Not CBDC, but a Stablecoins consortium gathering financial services, money transmitters, crypto native, and tech under the same umbrella.
CBDCs, and Digital Euro in particular,  are the delusional aim of an institution, the ECB, that is losing traction by the day.

That's what I'm talking about. Stablecoins serving as "de-facto" Fiat currencies of the world. No need to re-invent the wheel by making a CBDC from scratch. Governments will ultimate cede power to evil corporations. But not full control, of course. Because that lies in the hands of the government itself.

If this stablecoin model becomes the new norm, central banks might probably cease to exist. I mean, what role will they play with stablecoins issued by companies? The future will be a very dark one. Why? Because people will get zero privacy and freedom in return. It's coming, and we should be prepared for it.

[ultrloa]

With the Open USD consortium, the world is demonstrating where we are headed.
Not CBDC, but a Stablecoins consortium gathering financial services, money transmitters, crypto native, and tech under the same umbrella.
CBDCs, and Digital Euro in particular,  are the delusional aim of an institution, the ECB, that is losing traction by the day.

With those development we have seen now with private sector  which became more adoptive with stable coin and not with CBDC. Also how they align their selves with stablecoins especially with Open USD, that indicates that real changes is already kicking up or starts to happen.

I have this impression that CBDC is created for political gains to those who's currently in power, meanwhile those stablecoins is actually great because it helps a lot to solve real time problems. So with that the direction now is so obvious, that the future of digital currencies is shaped by the collaborations of institution and not by want of central banks which is trying hard to remain relevant on the scene.

[DrBeer]

With the Open USD consortium, the world is demonstrating where we are headed.
Not CBDC, but a Stablecoins consortium gathering financial services, money transmitters, crypto native, and tech under the same umbrella.
CBDCs, and Digital Euro in particular,  are the delusional aim of an institution, the ECB, that is losing traction by the day.

With all due respect to your opinion, I’m afraid I have to disagree.
"Stablecoin Consortium"-that certainly sounds nicer than "CBDC monster", but… A STABLECOIN is a token backed by fiat currency-and it’s completely centralized! But that’s not all! Both the global financial system and the issuer of fiat currency IMPOSE fantastical requirements on stablecoins! Freeze contracts, wallet locks on demand, and much, much more. It’s very important here not to delude yourself into thinking that a consortium means freedom...

[Don Pedro Dinero]

With the Open USD consortium, the world is demonstrating where we are headed.
Not CBDC, but a Stablecoins consortium gathering financial services, money transmitters, crypto native, and tech under the same umbrella.
CBDCs, and Digital Euro in particular,  are the delusional aim of an institution, the ECB, that is losing traction by the day.

With all due respect to your opinion, I’m afraid I have to disagree.
"Stablecoin Consortium"-that certainly sounds nicer than "CBDC monster", but… A STABLECOIN is a token backed by fiat currency-and it’s completely centralized! But that’s not all! Both the global financial system and the issuer of fiat currency IMPOSE fantastical requirements on stablecoins! Freeze contracts, wallet locks on demand, and much, much more. It’s very important here not to delude yourself into thinking that a consortium means freedom...

In an ideal world, we would all exchange goods and services for Bitcoin via peer-to-peer transactions, but the world is what it is. And given that, I prefer to use dollar-pegged stablecoins rather than the Euro CBDC. And I’m not the only one, as there is no demand even for Euro stablecoins.

Even today, mobile and card payments – mainly Visa and MasterCard – are also centralised and could be blocked, but this is far less of a problem than the Euro CBDC monster.

[dezoel]

With those development we have seen now with private sector  which became more adoptive with stable coin and not with CBDC. Also how they align their selves with stablecoins especially with Open USD, that indicates that real changes is already kicking up or starts to happen.

I have this impression that CBDC is created for political gains to those who's currently in power, meanwhile those stablecoins is actually great because it helps a lot to solve real time problems. So with that the direction now is so obvious, that the future of digital currencies is shaped by the collaborations of institution and not by want of central banks which is trying hard to remain relevant on the scene.

Well when we are dealing with Open USD, we are talking about these big companies in the USA just wanting piece of this stablecoin market. USDT has the biggest market right now in the stablecoin, and they do not do marketing, because they do not need to, they are the biggest already. But these Open USD people are super wealthy, so if they do it, and they spend a billion dollars a year on marketing alone, they could actually get the biggest piece of the market back on their market.

[Fortify]

Good news for residents of the Eurozone, but also for everyone else. The ECB had accelerated its headlong rush and intended to launch the digital euro this October.

Now the news has come out that they are postponing the launch until 2029, although they are not selling it that way; it seems they want us to forget what they said in March (about launching in October).

But those of us who have been paying attention to the issue are not fooled. This is a huge delay that looks more like capitulation.

The long-awaited digital euro — the European Central Bank’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) project — is facing another delay, with its launch now projected for mid-2029.

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.

If you want wider adoption and pick up of things like Bitcoin, then having a huge trading bloc like the EU having an official digital currency would actually be a great thing. It would give many people that extra level of trust and practice with it, which can lead to them becoming more confident in other coins. Bitcoin should be treated like a digital gold and these national currencies would not be a threat in that sense - they would actually complement each other. When the EU bail out or delay such a project it is actually a knock back. Anything that gets people more interested and using new (to them) tech will give people confidence, it could create a new wave of interest in cryptocurrency and it is one of the richest markets in the world.

[DrBeer]

With the Open USD consortium, the world is demonstrating where we are headed.
Not CBDC, but a Stablecoins consortium gathering financial services, money transmitters, crypto native, and tech under the same umbrella.
CBDCs, and Digital Euro in particular,  are the delusional aim of an institution, the ECB, that is losing traction by the day.

With all due respect to your opinion, I’m afraid I have to disagree.
"Stablecoin Consortium"-that certainly sounds nicer than "CBDC monster", but… A STABLECOIN is a token backed by fiat currency-and it’s completely centralized! But that’s not all! Both the global financial system and the issuer of fiat currency IMPOSE fantastical requirements on stablecoins! Freeze contracts, wallet locks on demand, and much, much more. It’s very important here not to delude yourself into thinking that a consortium means freedom...

In an ideal world, we would all exchange goods and services for Bitcoin via peer-to-peer transactions, but the world is what it is. And given that, I prefer to use dollar-pegged stablecoins rather than the Euro CBDC. And I’m not the only one, as there is no demand even for Euro stablecoins.

Even today, mobile and card payments – mainly Visa and MasterCard – are also centralised and could be blocked, but this is far less of a problem than the Euro CBDC monster.

This is an "ideal world" or, as they say, a "spherical horse in a vacuum" The problem is that the world isn’t ideal. Here’s a simple problem: raw materials are extracted by companies where labor and resources are paid for-for example, in dollars. From these raw materials, a certain product-or more precisely, a component-is manufactured, and there, payment is made in yuan; the manufacturer of the final product assembles, packages, and ships it all over the world, and accepts payment in euros. The buyer wants to pay with Bitcoin. This means there needs to be a transparent, free system for exchanging Bitcoin for other currencies-in other words, Bitcoin must essentially be a globally recognized currency with all the necessary characteristics. And that’s only half the problem. The main problem lies in the very nature of cryptocurrencies-DECENTRALIZATION! Here, you cannot reverse a payment, freeze funds, or take any other actions that are common in the fiat world.

[BitDiscussion]

Not entirely sure if it is a good news. If you are against it, then you should dislike it because it is not cancelled and it's only postponed, and if you like it then you should be unhappy because it's postponed and not happening now. So in either case, doesn't matter how you feel about it, this is not a good news.

Because waiting for something inevitable is never good, you know it's out there and you do not know what's going to happen and you are just unhappy that it is not happening right now so you can take your position based on the reality.

[MRY]

If you want wider adoption and pick up of things like Bitcoin, then having a huge trading bloc like the EU having an official digital currency would actually be a great thing. It would give many people that extra level of trust and practice with it, which can lead to them becoming more confident in other coins. Bitcoin should be treated like a digital gold and these national currencies would not be a threat in that sense - they would actually complement each other. When the EU bail out or delay such a project it is actually a knock back. Anything that gets people more interested and using new (to them) tech will give people confidence, it could create a new wave of interest in cryptocurrency and it is one of the richest markets in the world.

The implementation of blockchain based digital currencies by key world economies will ensure its validation in large numbers. Based on the infrastructure under official authorities, trust will increase. The role of Bitcoin as digital gold will be enhanced even in this ecosystem. The two work synergistically, where national currencies are used to conduct day to day transactions, and crypto assets can be used as a long term store of value.

[Abiky]

Well when we are dealing with Open USD, we are talking about these big companies in the USA just wanting piece of this stablecoin market. USDT has the biggest market right now in the stablecoin, and they do not do marketing, because they do not need to, they are the biggest already. But these Open USD people are super wealthy, so if they do it, and they spend a billion dollars a year on marketing alone, they could actually get the biggest piece of the market back on their market.

This OpenUSD model can be easily applied to the new "Digital Euro". They can create the "OpenEUR" and declare it the "de-facto" Fiat currency of the EU. There's no need to reinvent the wheel by creating a CBDC from scratch. Seems to me that the EU is more interested about control and ramping up surveillance, than anything else. That's not surprising, considering that communism is rising in the bloc. One day, Europe will be lose its civilization/identity as immigrants flood the continent. It will be a Europe without Europeans. Just what Donald Trump said.

I doubt the "Digital Euro" is going anywhere. But with how unpredictable the US has been lately, anything's possible. Countries are now considering moving away from the USD than they did some time ago. Better be prepared for the worst, just in case.