Ideas about the issue of Facebook LibraCoin and Chinese digital currency must have severely frightened the authorities of individual countries. And it’s enough that it turns out that digital euros may appear soon on the market. France is working on the project.
François Villeroy de Galhau, president of the Central Bank of France, has just officially announced that his institution is planning to start testing the digital euro. If everything goes according to plan, they are to start in the first quarter of 2020. Les Echos writes about the case.
The Digital Euro
The media has confirmed the Bank of France itself. A post on Twitter added that the above plans were even publicly announced during the conference co-organized by the two main French financial regulators.
We also know the first assumptions of the digital euro that the French central bank wants to create. Unfortunately, it shows the conservatism of the project. While LibraCoinc is to serve everyone, the digitized French currency is to be dedicated – at least in the first stage of its operation – only to private entities from the financial sector. Individual customers will get the taste.
Villeroy de Galhau wants to make his country the first country in the world to issue the digital currency of the central bank:
“I see interest in rapidly accelerating the issuance of at least one central bank digital currency to be a leading issuer in the world and enjoy the benefits of providing an exemplary central bank digital currency.”
Competing with Libra
The new actions of France are part of the country’s current policy. There is even talk of the country’s informal coalition with Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. Its purpose is to block Libra emissions in the European Union.
Authorities around the world may fear that the success of Facebook’s currency will disrupt the monetary policies of their central banks, and thus hit their political power.
The year 2020 will probably be a breakthrough in terms of the issue of digital currencies that are subject to companies or central banks. In addition to France’s new idea, we are waiting for Libra and Chinas gold-backed digital currency.
