Central banks around the world are investigating Central Bank Digital Currencies as a response to the emergence of private stablecoin projects and to meet the needs of an increasingly digitalized economy. In Europe, the ECB is expected to announce soon the continuation of its investigation into a digital euro following a public consultation phase.

For the debate to go forward, it is important to explore in more detail what a digital euro could look like, what could be its features and how it could be best designed to benefit European businesses and citizens. The digital euro project also raises important questions on the role of the banking sector, including the broader role banks would play in a digital euro ecosystem and how they would participate in the design phase.

This EBF Digital Thursday Close-up aims to discuss all these challenges, including what to expect from the next phase of this important new development.