Piero Cipollone: The cooperative spirit at the heart of the digital euro

In a recent lecture, Piero Cipollone, a member of the European Central Bank's Executive Board, emphasized the importance of the cooperative spirit in the development of the digital euro at the annual meeting of the Federation of Italian Cooperative Credit Banks in Rome. The concept of money, as noted by Aristotle, serves as an instrument that brings disparate elements together and establishes a common standard.

Money derives its value from social agreement and trust, a sentiment that Cipollone reiterated during his address. Without this mutual confidence, money would be nothing more than a piece of metal, a piece of paper, or a series of digits. The European Central Bank's issuance of legal tender status to the digital euro reinforces this trust, ensuring its acceptance as a form of payment for any transaction.

Confidence in the monetary system is crucial, as it underpins the operations of commercial banks and enables them to issue money. This is evident in the cooperative movement's founding principles, which originated from the desire to establish mutual trust between participants. In 1883, Leone Wollemborg, near Padua, Italy, founded the first Italian cooperative bank with 32 members, addressing the issue of farmers relying on exploitative moneylenders at the time.

Wollemborg's solution was to create a bank owned by the borrowers, ensuring that the institution served their interests.

By 1897, cooperative banks had proliferated across Italy, with over 900 such institutions serving their members' needs. Cipollone's remarks underscore the significance of this cooperative spirit in shaping the digital euro, as trust and mutual understanding remain the bedrock of a functional and robust financial system.