Piero Cipollone: The implementation of CBDCs by central banks - challenges, risks and opportunities

Speech by Mr Piero Cipollone, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Italy, at the Conference "Central Bank Digital Currencies: Threat or Opportunity?", London School of Economics, London, 28 October 2022.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank the organizers for inviting me to this conference to talk about the implementation of CBDCs by central banks.

Today I will focus on three aspects of the CBDCs: risks, challenges and opportunities. In addressing this relevant topic, I will present the point of view of a central banker and I will share with you my experience on the ongoing activities related to the digital euro project, taking place within the Eurosystem. The digital euro project is now in the investigation phase, which started just one year ago and is intended to end in September 2023. Then, if so decided by the Governing Council, the realization phase would begin, which would last another three years.

Let me give you just a brief update on the digital euro project. First of all, I would like to highlight that the digital euro would complement cash, not replace it, by allowing central bank money to also be used in digital form. We are these days at the "halfway point" of the investigation phase, and several key aspects of the project have already been discussed over the past year. Even if important milestones have been reached so far this has no bearing on whether or not will be decided by the ECB decision bodies to move to the realization phase or to issue a digital euro.

We have reached by now important milestones, however this has no bearing on whether or not the ECB decision bodies will decide to move to the realization phase or to issue a digital euro.