Italian banks begin experiments with the digital euro

The Italian Banking Association (ABI), representing 700 financial institutions, announced the start of testing of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

During the experiment, the association plans to study the technical implementation of the idea and “value-added services” that will become possible thanks to the programmable nature of the technology.

“The goal of the initiative is to foster public discussion of CBDC and to support Italian banks in their development,” ABI said.

The testing is divided into two parts. The first focuses on the infrastructure model and feasibility, the second on evaluating how programmability can provide use cases that differentiate CBDC from existing payment systems.

Comunicato Stampa ABI_19122020 by ForkLog on Scribd

Earlier, ABI representatives said that the programmable properties of digital currencies would allow control of exchange rates and interest rates.

In November, the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) Christine Lagarde ruled out rushing to launch CBDC — this could take two to four years.

They expect to begin work on a plan to launch the digital euro at the ECB in mid-2021.

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