EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL
• Reasons for and objectives of the proposal
Digitalisation and new technologies are increasingly shaping European people’s lives and the
European economy. With the European economy becoming more and more digital, Europeans
also increasingly use private digital means of payment to transact.
Banknotes and coins – which are the only current forms of central bank money with legal
tender available to the general public (including people, public authorities and businesses) –
alone cannot support the EU’s economy in the digital age. Their use in payments therefore
diminishes as online purchases increase and payment habits of the general public shift
towards the large variety of private digital means of payment offered in the EU. This puts at
stake the desirable balance between central bank money and private digital means of payment.
This trend could even be reinforced in the future, with the emergence of third country central
bank digital currencies (CBDC) and stablecoins1
issued by private firms, which could
challenge the role of the euro in payments, in the EU and outside.
The lack of a widely available and usable form of central bank money technologically adapted
to the digital age could also diminish trust towards commercial bank money, and ultimately
towards the euro itself. Trust towards commercial bank money relies on the possibility of
depositors to convert at par their deposits into central bank money with legal tender, which
currently is only available in the form of cash. Lacking a form of a central bank money that
can be used in the digital economy and is convertible at par with commercial bank deposits
may undermine the monetary anchor role of central bank money, weakening financial stability
and monetary sovereignty in the EU.
In this context, over recent years, the issuance of a retail CBDC has gained significant
attention and traction.2 Like cash, a retail CBDC would be an official form of central bank
money directly accessible to the general public, endowed with the status of legal tender. It
would thus adapt the official forms of the currency to technological development,
complementing cash.
