According to Reuters, Fabio Panetta, a member of the board of directors of the European Central Bank, said that the development of the digital euro may begin before the end of next year. If this work is under way at that time, Panetta is expected to take about three years to complete, which means that it will be ready for use in early 2027.
The European Union has lagged behind China for many years in the digital currency issued by the central bank, and the people's Bank of China tested its digital RMB in 2020.
On this issue, Panetta said. "Finally, at the end of 2023, we can decide to start an implementation phase to develop and test the appropriate technical solutions and commercial arrangements needed to provide the digital euro, which may take three years."
In a speech published on the ECB website in April, Panetta was very skeptical about the current form of cryptocurrency. He said that this market is a foam, which is similar to the subprime mortgage market that led to the crisis in 2007. In order to solve this problem, he called for strengthening the supervision of the existing cryptocurrency.
He added that central banks must use cutting-edge technology to operate fast retail payment systems and prepare for central bank digital currencies (cbdcs).
Although the European Central Bank's CBDC lags behind the Central Bank of China, Panetta claimed in his speech that the bank has actually taken the lead in the development of digital currency.