TechFlow news — On March 21, according to CoinDesk, Philip Lane, Chief Economist of the European Central Bank (ECB), said that Europe needs a digital euro to counter the growing influence of dollar-pegged stablecoins and U.S. electronic payment systems within Europe's financial system.
Lane pointed out that digital payment services offered by tech giants such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal "expose Europe to risks of economic pressure and coercion." He emphasized that the digital euro would provide a secure and widely accepted digital payment option under European governance, reducing reliance on foreign providers and limiting the potential for foreign-currency stablecoins to serve as a medium of exchange in the eurozone.
Lane specifically noted that 99% of the stablecoin market consists of tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar, increasing the likelihood of dollar-backed stablecoins gaining traction in the eurozone. He argued that given the eurozone comprises multiple countries, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) may be even more important for the ECB, and that the digital euro could help overcome the persistent fragmentation of retail payment systems across the eurozone.
