The Governing Council of the ECB (European Central Bank) will decide in the spring whether or not to launch the digital euro, but the head of the institution, Christine Lagarde, seems confident in this project.
“I think we will have a digital euro in no more than five years,” Lagarde said at a virtual economic conference hosted by Reuters. “With this currency, daily payments will be made efficiently, quickly and securely,” says the ECB.
The ECB also intends to respond to the launch of global private means of payment, such as Libra, the cryptocurrency project launched by Facebook and those adopted by other central banks, such as the Chinese crypto-yuan, with global ambitions. The priority for the digital euro is “payment confidentiality” – according to a public survey by the ECB – and ranks first among the required features of a potential digital euro (41% of responses), followed by security (17%) and pan-European coverage (10%).
Bitcoin, a threat?
At the same time, Christine Lagarde called for a global regulation of Bitcoin, saying that in some cases digital currency has been used in money laundering activities and any deficiencies must be addressed:
“Bitcoin is an extremely speculative asset, through which some interesting and completely reprehensible money laundering activities have been carried out. There must be regulations, they must be applied and implemented globally because any escape will be used “.
Last week, Bitcoin price rose to a record high of $ 41,000, an increase of over 1000% from $ 3,859 in March last year, as governments increased spending to counter the economic impact of coronavirus. This increase in spending fueled fears about inflation and the devaluation of the US dollar. In addition, cryptocurrencies are gaining ground among ordinary investors, who are increasingly convinced that Bitcoin will be a long-term asset and not a speculative bubble, as some analysts and investors fear. There are currently no specific regulations on digital currencies in the European Union, as they have been considered too small to jeopardize the financial system.
The “end game” of the Plandemic is the elimination of cash, on the grounds that it helps to spread the “virus”; moreover, future identity documents will be electronic/biometric, also having the role of a credit card.
Therefore, electronic money will replace the current money, personal documents will reach the microchip / nanochip stage and without them we will not be able to sell / buy stuff.