On April 24, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the euro area national central banks provided a Progress Report on the investigation phase of the digital euro project, launched in October 2021. Three areas were covered:
User’s digital euro access, holdings and onboarding
Distribution of a digital euro, based on common rules, standards and procedures
Digital euro services and functionalities provided by supervised intermediaries
It is the third Report published by the ECB since the launch of this project; two previous reports presenting the first two sets of digital euro design and distribution options were published in September 2021 and December 2022.
The outcome of this investigation phase will be reviewed by the Governing Council later this year.
Of note, the European Commission is planning to propose a regulation to establish a digital euro in the second quarter of 2023 (read our previous update here).
The Bank of Canada (BoC) is also reflecting on its own central bank digital currency (CBDC) as it launched a public consultation on May 8 to gather Canadians' views on a potential future digital Canadian dollar (Digital CAD).