European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde announced on November 1 that the bank had launched a public consultation for the implementation of a digital euro.

• Lagarde said that plans for a digital euro were still in the “review and consideration stage”, but recent developments indicate that the ECB is accelerating its research and development efforts
• The public consultation will ask European retail users about their preference about a central bank digital currency, emphasizing that it would be central bank money
• The bank has launched a survey page to gather retail users’ opinions on the digital currency
• The ECB first unveiled its plans for a Digital Euro project in early October 2020, launching an extensive report that called for the preparation of a digital euro “should the need arise”
• While still in the early stages of consideration, the ECB believes that a digital euro could encourage innovation in retail payments and promote financial inclusion