2023-09-26 10:06:13
On Monday, the President of the European Central Bank spoke to some MEPs on the digital euro project.
Christine Lagarde has defended tooth and nail the digital euro project of the European Central Bank (ECB). “We are working to protect privacy but since digital money leaves a trace on the blockchain, it will not be completely anonymous as is the case with a bank note,” he said. declared Monday the President of the European Central Bank (ECB) before the deputies of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament.
Some MPs are skeptical of this project which raises questions regarding the confidentiality of user data. “Do you make a difference between anonymity and private life? How can we guarantee private life without guaranteeing anonymity?” asked German MEP Gunnar Beck (of the AFD, ranked on the far right) to Christine Lagarde .
This concern was first raised by the crypto community, in particular bitcoin users who wish to protect their privacy, worrying about a “Big Brother” ECB. “Will the ECB see how people’s data, how people spend their digital cash? No,” she clarified.
“The system will use commercial banks as intermediaries to disseminate the digital euro. The banks will have access to data, it’s true. But today they already have access to data. (…) This is the commercial bank which will analyze this data and share it with the user”, indicates Christine Lagarde.
“Not an ECB Big Brother”
Christine Lagarde highlighted certain European objectives to address the thorny issue of anonymity.
“Providing the anonymity that bank notes offer is contrary to the objective of combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The data will not be available to the ECB, it will not be an ECB Big Brother which will look into the details of the transactions,” explained Christine Lagarde.
At the end of June, Europe presented the details of its digital euro, which – paradoxically – incorporates certain characteristics of bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency. The digital euro will be “accessible to everyone, everywhere and free” in the 20 countries using the single currency, explained the Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis. The digital euro will make it possible to pay “both online and offline”. While online transactions will offer levels of confidentiality equivalent to current forms of payment, offline payments will guarantee the protection of citizens’ privacy, European decision-makers assure.
“(Citizens) could make digital payments by providing less personal data than they do today when paying by card, just like when they pay in cash, or when they withdraw money. money at an ATM. No one would be able to see what they pay offline in digital euros,” says the European Commission.
In October, the ECB Governing Council will meet to decide whether to set up a two-year pilot project, Christine Lagarde confirmed on Monday. The European Parliament and the Council will then have to adopt this proposal, before the ECB decides to choose whether it wishes to put such a digital euro into circulation, by 2027 or 2028.
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