What would a digital euro be?
A digital euro would be a digital form of cash: an electronic means of retail payment issued by us, the European Central Bank. As a form of public money, it would be available free of charge to everyone in the euro area, for any digital payments.
Today, people do not have access to public money in digital form. In our increasingly digitalised society, a digital euro would be the next step forward for our single currency.
Not another crypto-asset
A digital euro would not be a crypto-asset. Crypto-assets are not backed or managed by a central institution, which makes them risky and unstable. You have no guarantee that you will be able to exchange your crypto-assets for cash when you need to.
Instead, a digital euro would be backed by the same institution that backs your cash – us, the European Central Bank. And just like cash, it would always be worth its face value.