ECB officials: A Europe-led digital payment system needs to be established, and the digital euro is key

According to Cointelegraph, European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone stated that the escalating geopolitical tensions have further highlighted the necessity of establishing a Europe-led digital payment system.

In an interview released by the European Central Bank on Wednesday, Piero Cipollone described the proposed digital euro as "a digital form of public money," and pointed out that the digital euro is crucial for complementing cash and addressing Europe's increasingly fragmented payment landscape, especially in the context of the booming e-commerce. Piero Cipollone noted that cash transactions account for about a quarter (24%) of daily transactions, a significant drop from 40% in 2019. He stated that the European Central Bank has a responsibility to adjust the way it provides money as a public good.

Piero Cipollone directly linked this task to geopolitical issues, warning that "all possible tools have been weaponized" and that the increasingly tense global situation further underscores the necessity of establishing a "retail payment system fully under our control" that should be based on European technology and infrastructure, rather than non-European suppliers.