President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, in a virtual event with Germany’s Bundesbank hinted that the central bank will decide on whether the European regions should develop their own central bank digital currency or not.
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According to Lagarde, the ECB's findings are expected to be revealed to the public "in the coming weeks, followed by the launch of a public consultation."
"The Eurosystem has so far not made a decision on whether to introduce a digital euro. But, like many other central banks around the world, we are exploring the benefits, risks and operational challenges of doing so," the ECB's president said.
Lagarde added that the regulator decided to take a closer look at CBDCs due to the "evolving global context" in addition to "increase in protectionist policies."
Previously, iHodl reported that Mastercard Inc., a global payments provider, rolled out a virtual testing platform for financial regulators to examine CBDC's use cases.
The platform allows simulating the issuance, distribution and exchange of CBDCs between commercial banks, financial service providers and retail markets.
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