- Germany’s minister of Finance advises the EU to work harder on digital Euro
- China had earlier advised G20 members to work collectively on CBDC project
Olaf Scholz, the Finance Minister of Germany has advised the European Union to fast track it works on the possibility of a digital Euro currency.
He said this was to avoid the spread of private virtual currencies that could be dangerous to the world economies.
According to Reuters, the German’s Minister of Finance made this statement during an online conference where they were discussing the future of payments. The report stated that Scholz said that businesses were already making demands for digital money.
The German minister is not the only top executive of a country in the EU requesting for the implementation of a digital currency. Francois Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of France Central Bank, has also joined those clamoring for a digital euro.
According to Galhau, the EU should not allow it to be left behind in the race for a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) project.
Also, Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB) had disclosed in September that the digital Euro would only run in complement to the fiat currency of the continent.
Digital Euro: China’s President also clamors for CBDC projects
China’s President, Xi Jinping, recently advised member countries of the G20 to support digital currency projects in their individual countries.
According to the Chinese President, the entrance of these countries would lead to the eventual standardisation of digital currencies in the world. He also noted that there would be a set of effective regulations that will guide the use of such currencies.
Germany has had a strong stance against private digital currencies. The country’s finance minister has severally warned against the ills of currencies like that of Facebook proposed Libra.
The country’s Central Bank chief Jens Weidman had also spoken against the Libra. He had called on the European Union to work towards combating the influence of currencies like that of Facebook. He had also advised that the Digital Euro would be able to stop the spread of such private digital currencies.
