This morning we were delighted to have a full 11th floor again — the Lower Saxony Economic Council, represented by the state managing director Dirk Abeling, and our partner, notary and lawyer Felix Semper had invited local entrepreneurs to breakfast and a subsequent presentation. Under the title “The digital euro — how will we pay tomorrow? ” Burkhard Balz, member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, explained what the future of our payment options could look like in just a few years.
Mr. Balz opened the discussion with a clear message: The digital euro should not mean the end of cash, but rather be an addition to it. In many countries — including within the European Union — the digitization of banking and thus of everyday life has already made further progress. But according to Burkhard Balz, it is now important that the member states of the Eurozone not simply implement the digital euro as quickly as possible, but above all in a technically clean, legally secure and adapted to social requirements.
According to Mr. Balz, the digital euro offers many benefits, such as financial inclusion for people without access to traditional banking services, improved security through better tracking and monitoring of transactions, and the promotion of innovation in the financial sector.
However, there are still a few questions to be clarified: What are the implications of a digital currency for consumers and entrepreneurs? How should the current 20 countries in the Eurozone reconcile their national laws relating to transactions and banks with the introduction of a common, digital currency? And what risks arise for traditional banking institutions and savings banks? We can therefore expect the introduction of a digital euro currency only in a few years.
Pictured from left to right: Nina Storck (PwC), Burkhard Balz (Bundesbank), Dirk Abeling (Lower Saxony Economic Council), Felix Semper (activelaw Offenhausen.Wolter PartmbB) and Hans Joachim Gerstein (Meissner Bolte Patentanwälte Rechtsanwälte PartGmbB)
