ECB’s Nagel: Privacy Is Key to Digital Euro's Success

5 July 2024

By Aurėja Bobelytė – VILNIUS (Econostream) – Ensuring the protection of privacy is crucial for the success of the digital euro, European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said Friday.

Speaking at a conference on payments and securities settlement in Eltville, Germany, Nagel, who heads the German Bundesbank, said, ‘To make the digital euro a success, it is therefore of the essence to provide the highest possible level of privacy, while complying with anti-money laundering regulations.‘

The importance of protecting privacy was one of consumers' main concerns, Nagel said, referring to a survey carried out by the Bundesbank.

‘The Eurosystem will not be able to assign the transaction to you personally. And if you pay offline, no personal information whatsoever is shared with anyone else. Like with cash’, he said.

According to Nagel, there have been numerous misconceptions related to fake news and negative campaigns about the digital euro, as the majority of people either did not know about it or have mistaken it with a cash replacement or cryptocurrencies.

‘Once that decision to introduce the digital euro has been taken, there will of course be an advertising and education campaign. And that will be necessary’, he said.