European Central Bank chief economist: digital euros are needed to fight stablecoins and non-European tech companies

PANews March 21 news, according to CoinDesk, the European Central Bank (ECB) chief economist Philip Lane said that the dollar stablecoins and electronic payment systems dominated by US technology giants are occupying an increasingly large share of the European financial system, and Europe needs a digital euro to deal with this challenge. Electronic payment methods provided by large tech companies such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal put Europe at risk of economic pressure and external coercion. He stressed that the digital euro will provide secure and generally accepted digital payment options under the European regulatory framework, reducing reliance on foreign payment systems, while limiting the influence of the US dollar stablecoin in the euro zone. Lane also noted that 99% of the stablecoin market is currently composed of tokens anchored by the US dollar, which may lead to the gradual direct or indirect anchoring the US dollar rather than the euro zone.

Like other major economies, the ECB is examining the possibility of launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to cope with competition from stablecoins and payment systems for technology companies. Lane believes that the euro zone is composed of 20 EU member states, and the payment system is scattered according to different traditional standards of each country. The digital euro will provide a unique opportunity to solve the problem of fragmentation of retail payments in the euro zone.