German Finance Minister Wants ECB to Finalize Digital Euro Plans Faster

Olaf Scholz, the German Finance minister on Friday said that the European Central Bank must work very hard towards finalizing their plans for a digital Euro and a digital payment network. Scholz’s comment came during an online conference on future payments. The finance minister noted that the growing demand for a national digital payment system from the public and businesses alike is a clear hint that the central bank must come up with a plan for the same as soon as possible.

Scholz said,

“On the digital euro, I think we should work very hard. It is nothing where we should wait and see, (We) should be able to decide at any time that now we should do something with a digital euro.”

In the wake of the rising popularity of cryptocurrencies and the efficient technology powering it, many developed countries are looking to develop a national digital currency payment system with a central bank-issued digital currency called CBDC. China is currently at the top of the CBDC game as they started almost 6 years earlier and are currently testing the roll-out trials in a number of provinces in the country.

China’s progress and plans of a large-scale roll-out have got many western nations on their feet especially the United States who sees China as a potential threat to the world’s superpower. Recently the National Intelligence director wrote to the SEC chairman expressing concerns over China’s growing dominance in the digital asset field and also called for more inclusive crypto regulations to allow US tech companies to compete with them.

The European Central Bank has also been mulling over the idea of issuing a national digital currency for quite some time now as they look for ways that the CBDC can play a role in simplifying national and international trades.