ECB will decide in 2023 whether or not to issue a digital Euro

A new report on the progress of the investigation into the possible launch of a digital euro has been published by the European Central Bank.
The research will continue next year and the regulators will make a decision on the realization of the project in the fall of 2023.

Rules for Digital Euro Distribution through Intermediaries will be developed by the ECB

The second report on the advance of the investigation phase of the project to issue a digital version of the common European currency was released by the eurozone’s central bank.
The document presents a set of design and distribution options endorsed by the Governing Council of the European Central Bank.
A digital euro would be a liability on the balance sheet of the Eurosystem and the monetary authority of the eurozone.
The Eurosystem needs to be in full control of the digital euro issuance and settlement.

Supervised intermediaries, for example, credit institutions and payment service providers, will distribute the digital euro to end users — individuals, merchants, and businesses — open digital euro wallets, process payments and provide other related services. Conducting know-your-customer and anti-money laundering checks will be important for their responsibilities, too. The ECB also emphasizes:

“Regardless of the entity with which end users open digital euro accounts or wallet and of their country of origin, paying in digital euro should always be an option.”

The European Central Bank assures that the design of the digital euro would not involve the processing of user data.

The monetary authority said that the Eurosystem wouldn’t be able to infer how much digital euro any individual end user holds.
The digital euro project’s investigation phase began in 2021.
The first progress report was issued by the ECB.
The distribution scheme will have a rulebook in January.The Governing Council of the central bank will review the results of the research in the fall of 2023 and choose whether to proceed to a realization phase.