Goodbye bills and coins?
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (43, FDP) posted his vision of the “digital euro” on Twitter today.
︎ Specifically, the minister wrote: “We must use the introduction of a digital euro for a big leap in innovation: digital money can make our daily lives easier and be a growth engine for the economy. But this is not a surefire success (…).”
Several users asked themselves in the comments: how is this supposed to work?
Lindner explained: “On the one hand, digital money will only be widely accepted as a supplement or equivalent substitute for banknotes and coins if privacy is protected. Personal and transactional data from day-to-day transactions should therefore not be stored.”
In addition, the minister wants to fight money laundering, “but not with widespread distrust in a broad way”.
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The FDP politician imagines that “the digital euro represents a kind of platform”. In his view, there will be many start-ups that will develop additional utility “that we can’t even think about today.”
What is the difference between card payment and “digital money” – the finance minister initially left several Twitter users confused by these questions.
► Lindner later specified: “There is no talk of getting rid of money. On the contrary, we are working to ensure that the planned digital euro has the same privacy characteristics as the printed and embossed euro.”
Whether the money would still hold: It is unclear.
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