So what’s all this about then?
Should we all be glad that we didn’t join the Euro, or will it come to a bank near you?
One more nail in the coffin of freedom…
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time to start living off grid OGF
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And, when your digital credits go missing, there’ll be no one on the end of the phone to complain to 
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i’ll fool 'em, i,m still on £.s.d.
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Your doin a “Sterling” job Max
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@OldGreyFox Don’t knock all digital currency, Foxy. Late last year I did very well indeed thankyou with my Bitcoin investments and use some proceeds to buy my married granddaughter Stateside a superb house outright.
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Bring back the barter system…
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I must admit I haven’t gotten my head around how it works but it just seems like a pyramid scheme with very little value at the center. There’s also the environmental issue with the way it’s all powered. It appears that the reason we need so much power capacity is because of this type of thing and the push for AI.
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Being too dependent on international card systems is not a satisfactory situation either. The digital euro would reduce our dependence on the major US payment companies like Visa and Mastercard and would therefore make a significant contribution to European sovereignty. We would set up the rules for the digital euro ourselves and the infrastructure would also be in Europe. The issue of sovereignty has become much more important with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and recent developments in the US.
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Yes it does sound like a, rather interesting, game, but it’s for real. I don’t attempt to understand it, preferring bricks & mortar, but that hasn’t done well in the last 10+ years. My son sold his apartment last year, and bought crypto. I didn’t try to discourage him, he certainly seems to have a good understanding of it.
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Dachs the cost of changing all payment systems would be astronomical. Why would anyone want to use this when visa and mastercard work so well (and have a far lower carbon footprint)?
Needless to say, the digital Euro can only be introduced if it is accepted by businesses, traders, and consumers and it would, indeed, have a price tag like many other changes but it wouldn’t be astronomical. The current system works well, technically but not financially, since the profit margins of non-European transactions for banks and financial service companies are partly profuse but mainly go to Visa, Paypal & Co. Why shouldn’t those profits be channelled into European pockets? Right now people don’t fare any better. How can it be that Visa and Mastercard are forcing consumers to use a debit card which was only hesitantly accepted by traders? What is the point of banks issuing a Girocard that can only be used for certain payments and lets you down in other situations? What people need is a universally usable payment system.
It’s also true that the carbon footprint would be tremendous if the digital Euro were based on the block-chain technology like the Bitcoin. The jury is still out on that point, though, but open to a token-based solution.
Contrary to some messages spread by populist circles, the basic functions of the digital Euro will be free of charge for the consumers. The DE is meant to be a supplement. Nor is it correct to claim that the dE will be introduced in order to abolish cash. It’s the opposite: Because the ECB banks on cash, it is going to introduce a new, elaborately designed series of bank notes by 2029. Unlike in the past, you can get cash almost everywhere, not just at ATMs and banks but also at supermarkets, shops, and almost any filling station. “You never had it so good”, one might feel tempted to say.
It’s difficult to discuss this without understanding the way the service will be run but it seems like something you’d need a smartphone to use. The onus is not just one the host organisation but also on every single consumer to have a charged handset. It’s not clear what the benefits are other than to the developers. The profits going to the current card providers may disappear but the investment in the infrastructure, development, security and maintenance will be eye watering. I can see this turning into a very expensive white elephant that nobody will want to use.
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There has never been a better time to be a technophobe pensioner 
Because Visa, Mastercard etc can’t control your money like handing it over to the establishment to control would do. The establishment can freeze accounts, restrict withdrawals, and place time limits on spending. And probably much worse.
Now we see the real reason of net zero and other green policies, its got nothing to do with saving the planet or preventing climate change, its about control of the common people using technology and statistics we have no way of disproving, and the people who can disprove it are prevented, cancelled, ridiculed and have to resort to social media like X (formerly twitter)