The Italian Banking Association or ABI said that it was collaborating with its ABI Lab to initiate experiments with regard to a digital euro project. The initiative will aim to actively support banks operating in Italy in the process of preparing for the future scenario. ABI said in a statement:
The aim of the initiative is to proactively contribute to public debate and support banks operating in Italy as they prepare for the future.
Further, the project could demonstrate technical feasibility of a digital euro based on a distributed blockchain ledger technology (DLT). It also aimed to enhance the role of banks under European Central Bank.
CBDC research will consist of two parts, which would assess infrastructure and distribution models. This would allow the team to gauge technical feasibility. Another part of the experiments would focus on how programmability could give rise to new use cases. Some of which would show the difference between the European central bank digital currency and electronic payments systems that are available now.
Earlier, Christine Lagarde, President of European Central Bank had said that Europe’s economic recovery was uncertain and that introducing a digital Euro would strengthen the European payment system. Lagarde even announced that the “Eurosystem” was “actively pursuing” to establish the digital Euro. She believed that ECB could launch the digital currency in the next two to four years.
