Objectives, rationale, opportunities versus main risks of a CBDC: principles for a coherent European financial regulation

This chapter, first of all, identifies the immediate causes of the sudden and widespread blooming of CBDCs projects around the world and, in particular, in the EU. Secondly, it critically discusses the main arguments used to support the introduction of CBDCs in terms of the opportunities and the attainment of public goals against the corresponding risks and downsides. Finally, the chapter concludes by assessing the ability of the digital euro project in balancing different public goals and its coherence with the overall framework of European Union Financial Regulation, deriving, where possible, suggestions for its design. The discussion will take into account the variety of alternatives at disposal in the design of CBDCs and its infrastructure, as well as the current stage of the digital euro project. The present chapter will briefly anticipate some relevant topics discussed further in detail in the rest of the book, with the aim of providing a first overview of the main regulatory issues, as well as the bigger picture, to contribute to the better understanding of the details and the deepening of more specific aspects.