Comment: The digital euro will never be as popular as cash
Does the world need a digital twin to euro cash? This will become clearer when the ECB's diffuse large-scale project takes on a concrete form in the coming years.
The enthusiasm at the European Central Bank (ECB) is great: after just a few days, six million people had voted on the motives on the new euro banknotes, the ECB recently reported. The ECB can only dream of such a response to the digital euro. While the population at best grants the project polite disinterest, the digital euro falls flat with companies. A survey by the research institute ZEW, which was available to the Handelsblatt in advance, hardly allows for any other conclusion.
Now, the companies surveyed from the industrial and information economy are not the primary target audience of the digital euro. These are primarily banks and retailers. They will have to ensure that citizens receive the digital alternative to cash and can use it everywhere. However, the fact that hardly any company expects a benefit from the major project must give the ECB food for thought.
Automated payments, lower costs, modern securities on the blockchain: proponents of the digital euro compare the digitalization of money to the switch from letters to e-mails in everyday communication.
Translated by urgent.news. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
