Topic: ECB prepares for the Digital Euro. Good or bad news? How long will cash last? (Read 138 times)

I live in Venezuela so I can give my opinion of the experience that Venezuelans have without cash as a result of our economic instability.
Just as Europe has thought about Digital Euro to meet the growing demand for immediacy with digitization, governments want to prevent European citizens from suffering from a lack of cash because the pandemic has advanced us in the digital age.
The Bitcoiners community already has a good experience in digital transactions, so this fact is easier for us to accept. In the meantime, it would be interesting to know the public consultation that will take place on October 12 through an ECB survey.

I don't think it will though at least not in the near future. The key word here is "digitalisation" the European Central Bank won't simply replace their Euro over something that is not backed by anything in a snap as the blog directly said that they are just doing this to make the people have an easier mode of payment and availability which is understandable as contactless payments are something that is now needed in the pandemic situation we have. The blog also says that they are doing this because they want the commercial side to be more innovative digitally, to keep it short they are creating this digital version of the Euro just to move on forward on using Euro digitally and not replacing it without something that doesn't physically exist.

I would rather transact using cash than a highly transparent and regulated digital currency. I would also want people to have the freedom to choose which they prefer to accept as a payment. So, cash or both.

Finance is a universal language and has been used for years by governments to maintain control by regulating money flow, inflation rate, availability of loans and so on. A completely digital currency would mean full transparency and as it would be centralized, the issuing body would have full control of holder's funds.
In the recent kucion hack, issuers of centralized tokens that were stolen locked some of the looted funds, so the hackers could not make away with it. This would be similar to the sort of regulations that would be present in a digital fiat currency and could be used on anyone. In summary it would result in;
• Lack of privacy
• Lack of control.

Imo, privacy would be waved off. I would assume there would be higher demand for decentralized currencies like bitcoin or other less regulated assets like Gold and silver to keep transactions off the chain.

More efficient criminal investigations at the cost of financial freedom? I would definitely pick financial freedom, scams and frauds have gone on in the banking sector, and I don't think any agency should have full control over the flow of money, especially as a utopian society does (and would) not exist.

A line from the original article caught my eye regarding how it relates to Bitcoin;

"The Eurosystem task force, bringing together experts from the ECB and 19 national central banks of the euro area, identified possible scenarios that would require the issuance of a digital euro. These scenarios include an increased demand for electronic payments in the euro area that would require a European risk-free digital means of payment, a significant decline in the use of cash as a means of payment in the euro area, the launch of global private means of payment that might raise regulatory concerns and pose risks for financial stability and consumer protection, and a broad take-up of CBDCs issued by foreign central banks."

Bitcoin would roughly fall under such global means of payment which spurred the idea of a digital Euro, meaning it could be considered a threat.
I believe there would be more demand for Bitcoin by users who wish to maintain their privacy. I also think this would come at a cost as government agencies try to maintain control through more stringent regulatory laws.

About one day ago, ECB has published a new blog post by Fabio Panetta, entitled "We must prepare to issue a digital euro". To some, it may be surprising; to me, it isn't. The world is preparing for the replacement for cash. Although the blog post explicitly says that a "digital euro would complement cash, not replace it", I think it's just a matter of time before it does get to replace it as well.

Cashless society is starting to approach us at a quite faster pace than we might've imagined - especially with the occurring events of 2020 - and I have my own opinion about it that some users around here may already know. But rather than arguing and debating my point of view as I usually do, today I want to read sincere opinions from more users around here as I'm really interested to know what the community thinks about it.

I think it's safe to say that we have reached the moment where there's no more going back. Digitalization is the future 100%, no matter what domain we're talking about. Therefore, I personally think it's important to hear what the Bitcoin community has to say about digital finance slowly steering into our reality.

My questions for you are (feel free to answer only some of them if you wish):
1. Which would you prefer to have as a payment choice: Cash, digital Euro or both?
2. If cashless society is the future, how do you think this will affect our personal lives?
3. How could privacy still remain a right of ours if, at one point, digital Euro becomes the only option we have?
4. While digital EUR surely does allow authorities to better fight criminal activity, it does also allow them to actively monitor your financial life. As decentralized privacy-focused currencies are never going to be a bank's choice, we will likely have to sacrifice one of the two. Which would you sacrifice, if you had the choice?
5. How do you think Bitcoin will be affected? Will there be more demand for it? Will there be harsh restrictions?

Blog post: https://finanz.dk/we-must-be-prepared-to-issue-a-digital-euro/ (the original post should be found here, but I can't access the link as ECB does not like Tor).