Europeans named losing privacy as their biggest concern over a transition to a digital currency, a new survey of Eurozone citizens by the European Central Bank found.
Those living on the Continent expect the digital euro, which is being mulled by ECB, to be private, safe, and cheap, the survey showed.
A fully digital currency might turn out to be less private than simple electronic payments using the euro since it would likely be more integrated into the ECB, which would have access to people's payment data.
“We will do our best to ensure that a digital euro meets the expectations of citizens,” ECB Executive Board member Fabio Panetta said.
Those polled prioritised usability in the Eurozone (11 percent), no additional costs (9 percent), and offline use (8 percent) as they main things they wanted from the digital euro, while 18 percent said they were in favour of the currency.
Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China Fan Yifei has spoken previously in favour of keeping a degree of anonymity “within a controllable range” to help with financial security. The payments would be anonymous to some degree, but data analysis tools could help the central bank to crack down on money laundering and other criminal activity.