Findings from the ECB's focus teams same the general public was more possible to accept a digital euro that's accepted in physical and online stores and allows simple person-to-person payments.
Fabio Panetta, an govt member of the european central bank, said focus teams exploring the potential rollout of a digital euro hinted the power to use the digital currency at on-line and physical stores can be a key feature.
In a written statement released Wed, Panetta broke down the findings of ECB focus teams on digital payment strategies commissioned in Sep 2021, that recommended folks were additional probably to just accept a digital euro accepted in physical and on-line stores and allowed simple person-to-person payments. per Panetta, all merchants would want to just accept a digital euro to examine adoption trends like those the fiat euro experienced 20 years past.
“The introduction of euro banknotes created it potential for America to pay with physical euros anyplace within the euro space,” aforementioned Panetta. “So it's no surprise that individuals expect to be ready to use the digital complement to banknotes where they'll pay digitally or on-line.”
Findings from the focus teams also hinted that a lot of members of the final public and merchants were unfamiliar with a digital euro and feared that money was being phased out because the variety of use cases for the technology increased. However, once the construct was explained to them, members of the main focus cluster from the final public said being “widely accepted altogether kinds of physical retailers and online” was the foremost desirable feature for a digital euro, whereas merchants recommended high demand would be their biggest driver.
Panetta more that the ECB would think about these options aboard considerations over privacy in response to the general public consultations the financial organisation conducted between October 2020 and Jan 2021. He said the ECB would conduct another round of focus teams on the digital euro toward the tip of 2022, providing knowledge that would be used to determine relevant policies:
“We are getting a clearer picture of what citizens and merchants want, so we can finetune all the design features of a digital euro before any potential issuance. And co-legislators have a key role to play, for instance to enable greater privacy.”
( Turner Wright, Cointelegraph, 2022 )