The European Central Bank is now considering deploying the retail digital euro on public blockchains such as Ethereum or Solana! (FT Report) The use of a public blockchain was “definitely something that [EU officials are] taking more seriously now”, one of the people said to the Financial Times.
Ram Kumar, a core contributor at blockchain infrastructure firm OpenLedger, told Decrypt that deploying the euro on a public chain would dramatically expand its reach. “It would open the euro to the wider crypto economy instantly,” Kumar said. “It could plug into DeFi, global wallets, and cross-border payments without needing to build that infrastructure from scratch.”
Louis Tellier, Lead Institutional ResearchLead Institutional Research at Blockstories said that the retail digital euro on public blockchains option „had until now been unthinkable, but the passage of the GENIUS Act, which provides a regulatory framework for stablecoins in the United States 🇺🇸, has pushed the ECB to reconsider its plans.”
As a reminder, blockchain had never been part of the retail digital euro project, which was supposed to rely entirely on a more traditional instant payment solution for privacy reasons…
…but then, how can the question of privacy, which remains unresolved on networks like Solana and Ethereum, be addressed?
Things are moving very quickly, even as dollar stablecoins continue to grow exponentially, which could pose a threat to the sovereignty of the euro since euro-denominated stablecoins remain, to this day, extremely marginal.
But is promoting the development of a digital euro by the European Central Bank, even on a public blockchain, at the expense of fostering an ecosystem of euro-stablecoins, the right solution?
It’s essential to note that there is also a wholesale digital euro project, which would be accessible only to financial institutions and includes a blockchain component, but on a private basis.
Last month, Blockstories reported that the Banque de France was working on a rehypothecation market system based on Ethereum… whereas until now, it had carried out its experiments on private networks. “But so far, these have shown their limits in terms of distribution and interoperability,” several sources close to the matter told us at the time – Tellier mentioned.
Amnon Samid, Chief Executive OfficerChief Executive Officer at BitMint said that if is true that the European Central Bank considering building digital euro on a public blockchain „is VERY worrisome”.
„The fundamental issue is that the Digital Euro should introduce the next generation of digital currencies, immunized against mathematical collapse, well-grounded into the economy, and offer a yet unimaginable range of tools and means for society to run itself much better than it does today. Blockchain – public or private – for digital euro – is like suicide.” said Samid.
He added: „While most sink into the mud of blockchain of its types, smarter countries and private issuers of stablecoins and tokenized assets & deposits will come out with an ultimate public ledger (NOT DLT), like the LeVeL, resistant to quantum computing, which is positioning itself as a trusted platform providing a truly accessible and efficient marketplace for unlocking the potential of digital at scale, digital assets, seamless tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), stablecoins, tokenized-cash (IOU), web3, CBDC, finance, lending, and more. Europe ‘s strategic disadvantage seem to be due to responding to circumstances (like the Genius ACT), rather than initiating…leading the change…. with courage and responsibility!„
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„To be honest I think that Sinaia, your conference, is much better then Davos.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
