ECB Official: Digital Euro to Provide Maximum Privacy Protection

ChainCatcher report: Piero Cipollone, member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, stated in an interview with Italian media ilsussidiario.net on August 10 that the digital euro will offer the highest level of privacy currently achievable by technology. Offline payments will occur directly between individuals, with transaction details visible only to the payer and payee; during online payments, the Eurosystem will be unable to identify the payer or payee—only the participating commercial banks involved in the transaction will have this information, including for anti-money laundering purposes. The European Parliament has already adopted its negotiating position on digital euro regulation in July, with negotiations targeting an agreement with member states by the end of 2026. The European Central Bank has designated 36 payment service providers, including Deutsche Bank, UniCredit, and Revolut, to participate in a 12-month pilot starting in the second half of 2027, with a first issuance targeted for 2029. Meanwhile, the U.S. “21st Century Roads Act,” signed in July, prohibits the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency before the end of 2030 unless explicitly authorized by Congress.