ECB's Cipollone Ties Digital Euro Pilot to Europe's Push for Payments Independence - BigGo Finance

The European Central Bank is casting its planned digital euro trial as a question of control over the plumbing of European commerce, not merely a technical upgrade. Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said the project could give the euro area a payments backbone it owns, reducing its exposure to providers based outside the bloc. In an interview with the Italian publication Milano Finance that the ECB released on Saturday, Cipollone argued that recent shocks in other sectors offer a cautionary tale for money movement. "In recent years Europe has learned that, for some essential services, we cannot rely only on third parties," he said, pointing to energy and, more recently, defense. "And the same is true for payments.