ECB’s Knot: Digital Euro to Increase Resilience of European Payment System

5 April 2024

By Isabel Teles – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Klaas Knot on Friday said that the European payment system could benefit from the use of a digital euro.

At a conference in Lake Como, Italy, Knot, according to a text provided by De Nederlandsche Bank, which he heads, said, 'And so, to increase the resilience of the European payment system, for whatever the future holds, we will likely need the digital euro – as a digital pan-European means of payment, supporting Europe’s strategic autonomy in payments.'

'A digital euro must provide for both online and offline use cases to fulfil the promise of being able to pay with public money anywhere in Europe at any time', he said.

Private initiatives could contribute to the development of the digital euro, he said, adding that 'it is encouraging that private parties are now also stepping up their game in developing pan-European retail payments solutions.'