The launch of the digital euro could give every European a free, universal payment account. But this grand vision is at risk of being curtailed by a well-coordinated lobbying campaign of the banking industry. Banks want to make sure you will keep needing them – and they have EU officials’ ears.
I always thought that commercial banking and the transfer industry will basically lose their whole raison d’être if we ever get CBDCs working, and I didn’t understand if they had any plans for it. I guess not.