Banque de France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau is planning to test a central bank-issued digital currency by 2020 to do it. Along the way, he’s making a play for French leadership of the European economy.
The biggest obstacle to a European Central Bank-issued digital currency is not the technology, according to departing European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. Rather, he said, the “key issue is … its utility in terms of costs and benefits to the public.”
Shortly after calling for a ban on Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire suggested the European Union should create its own digital currency.
Facebook’s new Libra stablecoin got a break in Europe last week with the announcement that Christine Lagarde has been nominated to be the new head of the European Central Bank, says eToro’s senior market analyst, Mati Greenspan.
