ECB: Fiat will face new challenges as early as 2021

The launch of the Libra cryptocurrency by the social network Facebook, scheduled for January next year, may pose new threats to traditional money, said ECB Governing Council member Fabio Panetta. The authorities, in his opinion, will have to “reinvent sovereign money”.

Fabio Panetta emphasizes that a crypto asset developed by the social network can become a threat to monetary sovereignty, which, in turn, will serve as a catalyst for the transition to new digital assets and their use as a means of payment. It is noted that research is currently underway aimed at issuing a digital version of the single European currency. Among the main areas of work are the verification of the compatibility of the cryptoasset with the existing solutions of the central bank, the relationship between DLT technologies and centralized systems.