欧洲央行-数字欧元报告（英文）-2020.10-55页_401kb

Summary of the Report on a Digital Euro

Core Content

This report outlines the considerations, potential benefits, and challenges associated with the issuance of a digital euro by the Eurosystem. It serves as a foundational document for the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Eurosystem High-Level Task Force on Central Bank Digital Currency (HLTF-CBDC) to evaluate the feasibility and implications of introducing a digital form of central bank money.

The digital euro is described as a central bank liability in digital form, intended to complement cash and serve as a means of retail payment for citizens and businesses. It is not expected to replace cash, but rather to coexist with it, enhancing the payment ecosystem and supporting financial inclusion.

Main Reasons for Issuing a Digital Euro

The report identifies six key scenarios that could justify the issuance of a digital euro:

1. Supporting the digitalisation of the European economy and strategic independence of the EU
2. Responding to a significant decline in the use of cash
3. Mitigating the risks of foreign CBDCs or unregulated private digital payments becoming dominant
4. Enhancing monetary policy transmission
5. Providing a contingency mechanism for payment services during extreme events
6. Improving the overall costs and ecological footprint of the monetary and payment systems

Each scenario implies specific requirements for the design and implementation of a digital euro.

Key Requirements

Requirement 1 (R1): Enhanced Digital Efficiency

• The digital euro should leverage state-of-the-art technology to ensure usability, convenience, speed, cost efficiency, and programmability.
• It must be interoperable with private payment solutions and accessible via standard front-end solutions across the entire euro area.

Requirement 2 (R2): Cash-like Features

• A digital euro should offer offline payment capabilities to preserve privacy and independence from technical infrastructure.
• It should be user-friendly for vulnerable groups, free of charge for basic use, and strongly branded as a European asset.

Requirement 3 (R3): Competitive Features

• The digital euro should be technologically advanced and provide functionalities at least as attractive as those offered by foreign currencies or unregulated entities.
• It should be designed to compete globally and maintain the reputation and relevance of the euro in international markets.

Requirement 4 (R4): Monetary Policy Option

• If used as a monetary policy tool, the digital euro should be remunerated at interest rates that the central bank can adjust over time.
• This could help in directly influencing the consumption and investment behavior of the non-financial sector.

Requirement 5 (R5): Contingency and Resilience

• A digital euro could serve as a backup payment method during extreme events such as cyber incidents, natural disasters, or pandemics.
• It would ensure continuity of payment services and trust in the financial system.

Requirement 6 (R6): Protection of the Euro’s Role

• The digital euro should help preserve the euro’s role in international financial markets.
• It should support European sovereignty and financial stability, especially in the face of foreign digital money gaining traction.

Functional Design Considerations

The report discusses the functional design of the digital euro, including:

• Key dimensions such as accessibility, robustness, safety, efficiency, and privacy.
• The possibility of coexistence with different forms of digital money.
• The need to avoid unintended consequences for the financial industry, monetary policy, and the broader economy.

Legal and Technical Framework

• The legal basis for issuing a digital euro must be clear and aligned with EU legislation, including anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) laws.
• The technical implementation requires new infrastructure, potentially building on existing Eurosystem systems.
• Practical experimentation is essential to test the feasibility and user needs of different configurations of the digital euro.

Follow-up Work

• The Eurosystem will conduct further analysis to understand the challenges and benefits of a digital euro.
• A public consultation is planned to gather feedback from citizens, businesses, and institutions.
• The HLTF-CBDC will coordinate experiments to develop a minimum viable product (MVP) of the digital euro.

Conclusion

The digital euro is not a crypto-asset or stablecoin, but a safe, risk-free, and accessible form of central bank money. Its introduction could have profound implications for the Eurosystem, the financial industry, and the European economy. The Eurosystem is committed to ensuring that the digital euro meets the needs of its users while upholding its mandate and complying with legal frameworks. The decision to issue a digital euro will be based on pragmatic analysis, public input, and experimental testing.