Digital Euro Within Decade 'Very Likely,' Says Finland's Chief Central Banker

Olli Rehn believes a digital euro "in one form or another" is all but inevitable.

By Danny Nelson

Oct 16, 2020 at 4:24 p.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 10:10 a.m. UTC

Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn

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Bank of Finland Governor Olli Rehn told Reuters Friday he believes a digital euro is "very likely" to debut in Europe in the next 10 years.

He was less certain on the European central bank digital currency’s (CBDC) eventual design, saying the European Central Bank (ECB) “will first analyse and experiment.”
A retail digital euro will be “supplementary to" cash; it will not replace it, Rehn said.
Europe’s CBDC specialists want to “work together with the private sector” on a digital euro, he said.
However, Rehn notably rebutted comparisons to the libra stablecoin backed by Facebook. He made clear, though, the ECB will work with the private sector on fitting the project to Europe.
The ECB is expected to decide next steps for the digital euro project in mid-2021.

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