A new survey from the ECB highlights consumer reluctance toward adopting the digital euro, with Europeans seeing little value in the central bank’s digital currency.
According to an ECB study, European citizens showed minimal interest in adopting a central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC).
A working paper from the central bank on “Consumer attitudes towards a central bank digital currency,” which interviewed about 19,000 people in 11 euro area countries, highlighted communication challenges that are discouraging European households from adopting the digital euro.
When asked to hypothetically allocate €10,000 among various assets, Europeans allocated only a small portion to the digital euro, preferring cash and traditional bank accounts.
According to the paper, Europeans have a strong preference for existing payment methods and do not see a real benefit in a new type of payment system, given the various offline and online alternatives already available:
“This finding also suggests that convincing some users of the added value of a CBDC could pose a challenge for policymakers, and certainly more research will be needed in this area.”
The study suggested that while a digital euro could be introduced with minimal impact on financial stability, its adoption faces obstacles due to consumer habits.
