Speaking at a recent regional banking event, the finance minister of Germany disapproved of private-sector digital currencies. Olaf Scholz called for the advancement of European banking systems to adapt to the digital era. The German finance minister has in the past called for a digital euro and even pledged to speed up the European Union’s efforts on digital currency regulations, but he is not in favor of privately-issued digital currencies. Addressing delegates at a recent European Banking Congress event, he stated, “I do not support private-sector digital currencies.”
European banking systems must upgrade and adapt to the digital era.
The German finance minister didn’t disclose whether he was against the centralized tokens, such as Facebook’s Libra and JPMorgan’s JPM Coin or if he is opposed to decentralized digital currencies as well. According to the Reuters report, Scholz believes that the digital era is upon us and that European banking systems must upgrade and adapt. He further noted that he intends to invite the U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to a “Franco-German proposal for global minimum corporate tax levels.”
The German finance minister has called for the fast-tracking of digital euro development.
The German finance minister Scholz has also called for the fast-tracking of the digital euro development in the past. Speaking in October 2019, the minister stated that he believes a digital euro would allow Europe to cement its global financial system position. He further called on European nations not to leave the CBDC field to “China, Russia, the U.S. or any private providers.” His latest remarks over the private digital currencies come just days after the ECB president Christine Lagarde stated that she foresees the region launching a digital euro in two to four years.
