German based finance officers have come out in support of digital Euro and see the requirement of its launch. The head of German finance spoke about the need of the digital currency at the “Future of Payments in Europe” virtual conference on Nov 27.
The conference was sponsored by Deutsche Bundesbank and it did feature speeches from German finance minister Olaf Scholz and Deutsche Bundesbank board members.
“On the digital euro, I think we should work very hard. It is nothing where we should wait and see,” Minister Scholz declared.
Scholz stated on Nov 20 that he is against non-centralized cryptocurrency. His comments also come after the announcement by FaceBook that it plans to launch its Libra retail payment network with its own dollar-pegged stablecoin in January 2021.
Other stablecoins from Facebook, including a euro-pegged coin, will follow later in the year.
On the matter of payments outside of the Eurozone, Deutsche Bundesbank President Dr. Jens Weidmann declared at the conference that Europeans need to have the same capability for sending and receiving payments outside the eurozone as they do within it.
Dr. Weidmann also spoke on the role of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). He pointed to several aspects of the interaction of government and the economy in particular.
The support given by the central bank should not be underestimated, he claimed. However, central banks also need to avoid impeding private initiatives and solutions to consumers’ needs
Bundesbank Executive Board member Burkhard Balz took a direct shot at the decentralized finance crowd. He addressed one of the main criticisms of the current fiat system and tried to put the focus on the system’s users.
Balz pointed out that the beneficiaries of the system should be those buying and paying through it.
