The idea of central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC) is considered too speculative by the German Federal Ministry of Finance to enforce. This is the ministries stance that was disclosed after the questioning by Gerhard Schick, a Green Party MP as reported by a German business newspaper.
At the moment the Finance Ministry does not see any “convincing reasons” for digital central bank money to be issued in Germany and the EU. They go on to claim that in their opinion CBDC has "a number of risks that are not well understood," and such benefits as high-speed transfers are achievable by other means. Amongst some of the concerns the Ministry noted was the threat to the central bank’s independence if it were to issue a cryptocurrency, as well as being wary that in case of a crisis, bankruptcy would occur much quicker due to small transaction fees. The ever-present threat of the difficulty in fighting money laundering and terrorist financing was also mentioned.
Not all governments share this opinion. The Bank of England, for example, has concluded that there won’t be any negative effects on private lending or providing liquidity to the economy by introducing CBDC. The central Norwegian bank went as far as to recommend the implementation of CBDC as an addition to cash.