EU finance ministers agreed to impose holding limits on the digital euro, reaching consensus on procedures for setting caps during the latest Eurogroup meeting.
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Finance ministers of European Union member states agreed Friday on a pathway to set limits on how much digital euro an individual can hold, moving the bloc closer to launching a central bank digital currency.
The decision was announced during a Eurogroup press following the Economic and Financial Affairs Council meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Friday. Officials said they had reached a consensus on the “ceiling for holding limits and then ultimately on the issuance process itself for the digital euro.”
One official noted during the press conference that what had been discussed were the procedures for establishing holding limits, rather than the limits themselves. The statements follow United Kingdom-based cryptocurrency industry advocacy groups calling on the local central bank not to proceed with .
A holding limit for the European Union’s was also discussed in the European Central Bank’s (ECB) . According to a 2024 Politico report, holding limits have become a point of between the ECB and national central banks.
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EU moves forward with digital euro
Despite a global shift toward stablecoins, the EU appears to be doubling down on its digital euro efforts. Earlier this month, the ECB , drawing pushback from some EU members due to concerns over privacy and risks of damage to commercial banks.
ECB board member Piero Cipollone said at the time that the system “will ensure that all Europeans can pay at all times with a free, universally accepted digital means of payment, even in case of major disruptions.” He also claimed that the bank “will not know anything about the payer and the payee” and that the solution will also work offline. The offline implementation, he claimed, “will be as good as cash in terms of preserving the privacy of the people.”
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EU’s answer to the rise of stablecoins
ECB policymakers have of a digital euro for years, but could be pressured by stablecoin laws and regulations pushed by the Trump administration in the US. In late July, ECB adviser Jürgen Schaaf for the European Union to address the rapid rise of dollar-based stablecoins.
Similarly, at the end of May, Fabio Panetta — a former ECB official and Governor of the Bank of Italy — also associated with increasing cryptocurrency adoption. “We would be remiss to think that the evolution of crypto-assets can be controlled only through rules and restrictions,” he said, suggesting that the digital euro would be key to addressing the risks.
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