This is what the ECB is communicating at the moment, but it is not excluded that at some point they will change their mind and switch completely to the digital euro.
The 500 banknote ban was a relatively minor change. A massive centralization of payment methods to a single digital currency would be a move the EU or any other democratic state/currency area would not survive probably. Not only they would drastically harm the domestic banking sector but also probably political forces seeking to preserve cash and other methods would gain prominence. Perhaps it would even popularize cryptocurrencies even more.
My point is however another one. Of course an authority
can misbehave. But an introduction of a CBDC
can be done in a way it could be even positive for citizens, at least if you don't believe in an ultra-maximalist scenario where fiat would collapse and everybody only use Bitcoin for everything.
The Venezuelan Petro was originally conceived by an independent programmer. His idea was to create a blockchain-based and decentralized digital currency, very much like Bitcoin, and the government intervention would only consist in providing a pegging mechanism with oil-based derivatives, but no control over validation. Basically, it would have been a "government-backed Tether".
But as we know the Venezuelan authorities didn't want this to happen this way and wanted more control. So they created a totally centralized system which failed miserably.
If Maduro's regime wasn't so stubbornly authoritarian and "control-freak-y" they could have prevented the failure and perhaps would be even popular now.
I think that the term "voluntarily" in China should be looked at from a different angle, because when the CP says that something should be used, then they actually think that you should use it, because otherwise you are showing that you think you are smarter than the CP, and that is not nothing positive for personal health.
That may be the case but people simply are using the e-CNY much less than predicted.
Almost three years into the pilot, though, it seems the government is still struggling to find compelling applications for it, and adoption has been minimal. [...]
Though the system has been tested in 25 cities, and 260 million unique wallets hold a total of 13.61 billion RMB ($1.9 billion), last year e-CNY accounted for only 0.13% of the supply of central bank reserves and cash in circulation. “That’s very small after two years of piloting,” says Duffie. He says the only reason it’s still called a pilot is that it hasn’t taken off.
Source:
MIT technology review.
It is officially still in the "testing" stage so the current situation may be misleading, but it seems there is no clear path to acceptance, even in an authoritarian country like China. In a democracy like the US with strong constitutional guarantees I see even less chances to "enforce" the use of a CBDC.