Digital Euro, Cipollone (ECB): "It will work alongside cash. First test in 2027"

"The digital euro will complement cash with the same high security standards and at zero costs for citizens, as cash currently is." Piero Cipollone, economist and executive member of the ECB, explains this in an interview with Corriere della sera, speaking of the positive effects that the digital euro will have on mobile phones, with zero commissions for shopkeepers.

"The pilot project - he says - started this summer, and the first tests will start next year, with the first payments in less than 12 months". In particular, Cipollone recalls that "there are 570 thousand traders in Italy, who employ almost two million Italians: high commissions reduce their margins - often already very small - and in the end they have no choice but to reflect these costs in their prices".

"With the digital euro - he claims - they will have a public alternative. For small merchants, the costs for digital payments could be halved. And the digital euro can also be integrated into European private payment solutions".

This acceleration, he explains in conclusion, was also determined by geopolitics: "The invasion of Ukraine had already focused attention in Europe on strategic autonomy. We started with energy dependence, in particular on gas, and then realized that similar vulnerabilities also exist in other strategic sectors". And, says Cipollone, "not having your own digital payment system exposes you to the risk of being in the hands of other operators".