Digital Euro and Bitcoin: Different Roles in the Future Monetary System

The European Central Bank is planning to introduce the digital euro by 2029 in two variants: As a retail CBDC for citizens with anonymous payment functionality within the EU, limited to several thousand euros in balance, as well as a wholesale CBDC for larger corporate transactions. This is according to Dr. Robert Bosch and Ralph Bärligea from BearingPoint in a guest article.

While China already has the digital yuan in test operation, the United States is taking a different approach: The Trump administration halted all CBDC projects and is instead focusing on government-regulated stablecoins through the GENIUS Act.

According to the authors, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have not established themselves as everyday payment methods after more than 15 years, but rather function as digital gold for storing value. In a representative study, 34 percent of German respondents indicated they would want to use a digital euro—twice as many as those interested in cryptocurrencies for everyday payments.

The experts predict a coexistence: Central bank digital currencies would provide stable-value cash for daily transactions, while cryptocurrencies would retain their role as an international reserve currency. The planned anonymous offline payment function via smartphone particularly distinguishes the digital euro from other digital payment forms ^[1].