European Central Bank: Digital Euro for Payments Only, Not Investment or Holding

The European Central Bank has released a paper and video touting its digital Euro and attempting to allay fears over investments in the CBDC, which it is attempting to restrict. A digital Euro CBDC will be “designed for making payments, not for investment,” explained Ulrich Bindseil, Jürgen Schaaf, and Executive Board member Piero Cipollone in a blog post on Feb. 19. They added that many banks worry their customers might withdraw deposits to hold digital Euros instead. “These fears are misplaced,” they stated. The ECB is developing a digital Euro CBDC with legal tender status functioning as a digital payment solution for Europe. However, concerns are growing over a potential flow of deposits from retail banks to the central bank, which controls the CBDC.

“CBDCs could affect financial institutions, as depositors might choose to move money from bank deposits to the central bank,” it stated.

Digital Euro Not for Holding

Therefore, individual holdings of the digital Euro would be limited to preserve the role of commercial banks, it added. Moreover, the CBDC would not pay interest and would have no corporate holdings. The paper noted that a “reverse waterfall” mechanism would link digital Euro accounts to bank accounts, covering any shortfalls from the latter. This reduces incentives to hold large digital Euro balances. The ECB has designed the digital Euro to mitigate risks of disintermediation and significant outflows from bank deposits. The combination of limits, no interest, and the “reverse waterfall” would discourage using it for investment purposes. The ECB also warned over the threat of stablecoins and “e-money” which presumably referred to cryptocurrencies.

“Stablecoins, e-money institutions, and other narrow bank constructs, some sponsored by big tech companies with huge customer bases, do not care about the role of banks in the economy. Non-banks have no obvious incentive to limit the use of their stablecoins or the services they offer, and the use of stablecoins could become significant.”

In essence, the ECB has said that the digital Euro is not a store of value.

CBDC: More Control for the Central Bank

The ECB has also released a video explaining the perceived benefits of a digital Euro. It mentions “safeguards for financial stability, like digital Euro holding limits.” What it doesn’t mention is that transactions will be monitored, surveilled, and linked to digital identities. In an extreme totalitarian scenario, the central bank would have more power to restrict spending based on carbon usage if such legislation came into force. Earlier this month, CryptoPotato reported that three major European banks, including the ECB, were actively working to undermine Bitcoin as it threatens their CBDC. Furthermore, European banks have been disseminating FUD and misinformation to scare off the public.