European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said she believes the region’s monetary authority will move to launch a digital version of the euro in the next two to four years.
“We might well go in that direction,” Lagarde said Thursday on a virtual panel with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey. “My hunch is that it will come.”
ECB officials have previously disclosed they are conducting research into a central bank digital currency, and Bank of Finland Governor Olli Rehn told Reuters last month he believes a digital euro is “very likely” to debut in the next decade.
Lagarde said a digital euro would take extensive time to develop, including not just the underlying technology but anti-money-laundering controls and prevention of terrorism financing. She noted that China’s central bank has been working on a digital version…