During a Monday legislative hearing, Italian central banker Piero Cipollone defended the idea of a digital euro. When Panetta leaves the European Central Bank (ECB)’s executive board in November, Cipollone is asking for permission to take over as the institution’s top official in charge of central bank digital currency (CBDC), Fabio Panetta. Cipollone, who has served as the deputy governor of the Bank of Italy since 2020, is the only applicant for the role. His Monday comments imply that he won’t veer far from the current ECB digital currency policies.
A digital euro would “reinforce the ability to pay with public money throughout Europe with a technology and infrastructure that is based in Europe,” Cipollone told the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. He promised accessibility, offline capabilities, and “excellent solutions” to safeguard privacy. The ECB and the eurozone’s finance ministers have already approved Cipollone’s eight-year tenure, making his appointment to the role all but guaranteed.
Panetta has previously referred to private cryptocurrencies as a greed-driven Ponzi scheme and has also overseen ECB work on a digital euro amid strong skepticism from lawmakers over the project’s advantages for everyday consumers. In response to a previous written query from MPs, Cipollone claimed that blockchain developments carry “significant risks,” but that these risks may be handled by taking steps such as placing holding limitations on citizens. a cross-party group of EU parliamentarians urged the ECB to hold off on making any decisions about a retail CBDC until they could come to an agreement on legislative restrictions in contentious areas like privacy.
