this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2025
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[โ€“] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

I hear all the time people saying that it is an attempt to eliminated physical money to track us down. I remember reading somewhere that one of the requisites was to work offline, also for what I see is that the only thing that this is threatening to replace are things like Bizum and small payments with credit and debit cards.

[โ€“] thericofactor@sh.itjust.works 128 points 3 days ago (5 children)

a proposed electronic version of the physical euro that has banks and right-leaning politicians fuming.

That should tell you enough about why we need it.

TL;DR the digital euro isn't stored in a bank, but in a digital ledger, making it impossible for banks to use it as they wish for investments, mortgages or trading.

Never again do banks need to be saved by governments from their own bad and risky investment decisions because they are "too big to fail".

[โ€“] john_t@piefed.ee 50 points 3 days ago (1 children)

From what I've read in other news, the digital euro wallet will have a hard limit on the amount you can store in it, something like 1000 euros for example. Also, it needs to be linked to a physical euro bank account. Those features combined prevent fraud and speculation. It's mostly to be used as an online payment method to circumvent the Visa/Mastercard american payment duopoly.

[โ€“] Amberskin@europe.pub 11 points 3 days ago

I can confirm European banks are actively participating in the definition and implementation of the โ€˜digital euroโ€™. So the โ€˜banks are fumingโ€™ thing is bullshit.

Crypto-scam โ€˜companiesโ€™, on the other handโ€ฆ

[โ€“] wewbull@feddit.uk 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That doesn't mean bank accounts disappear. Banks will still hold your digital euros for you and pay you interest so that they can invest your money and make more money.

Nothing changes.

[โ€“] GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

Banks dont pay me interest any more, lol. I have to pay account fees. So that they might be so courteous as to take my money and enrich themselves with it

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[โ€“] DacoTaco@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago

All depends on how its implemented tbh. If its not regulated correctly it'll turn into what any digital currency is: a shitshow.
Im all for, if its done right.

Granted, i have yet to look into the proposal so no idea what they have in mind! Its on my todo list!

[โ€“] TheBat@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago (7 children)

Other than banks in Iceland, any other European banks were affected by the subprime crisis?

[โ€“] ILikeTraaaains@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

In Spain, almost all of the Cajas de Ahorros (it is not the same but to not go in details, imagine a some sort of credit union) went under due the financial crisis.

They were merged and transformed into a bank that then was rescued with lot of public money from taxpayers and it never repay to the society (either by returning the money or lowering fees and mortgage interest, in fact it almost erased people savings while the board of directors increased their bonuses.

Now the bank no longer exists, it was purchased by another bank, the one with most egregious fees in the country.

[โ€“] TheBat@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago

That tracks. Most European banks appear to be risk averse, unlike their American counterparts. I had assumed most of them either stayed away or lightly dealt with subprime bullshit.

[โ€“] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 2 points 3 days ago

All the major British banks were.

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[โ€“] Cyber@feddit.uk 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

But isn't the bank lending out your money and charging interest... which they pay back (some) to you?

If that doesn't happen and the digital euro just sits under your bed, then how do savings work vs inflation?

[โ€“] grue@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I don't know if it's different in Europe, but where I live bank savings account interest has been so low as to be a joke my entire adult life. If your goal is to have an investment or even just beat inflation, a bank account ain't it.

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[โ€“] wintermute@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The digital euro doesn't stop you from keeping doing it. It only replaces cash. Instead of withdrawing cash from the ATM to keep it in your wallet, you withdraw digital cash and keep it in your phone.

[โ€“] Cyber@feddit.uk 2 points 3 days ago

True, but that would be a phone app which has to come from an official (US) app store on a phone that is using offical (US) firmware...

I'm all for having a financial system that we can use 100% disconnected from the US, but it's the details that makes this hard, not the initial concept of e-Money.

But, back to the original point, I don't know how interest would work on money in an eWallet. I'd want to keep all my funds earning for me, which means loaning to others and then getting something back... so I don't want those transactions sitting in a 0% "safe" place... I'm either saving or spending.

So, if we can just have a EU version of Visa / Mastercard as step 1 that would be best. I think that's just arriving...

[โ€“] Muscle_Meteor@discuss.tchncs.de 19 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

So the right is against it: good

The banks are against it: probably still good

It might stifle innovation: okay.. where has that been up until now?

The ECB has already made concessions to appease banks, the digital euro will have a 0% intrest rate for example so banks should still be more appealing to store money in... Not that i've seen an intrest rate at a bank above 2% since 2008, but hey... Room to innovate..

Germany doesnt like the idea of potential snooping... So i guess they trust big american corporations more than an institution they have an actual say over?

I dont see a real downside to trying it, other than upseting american companies and special interest groups, and i'd much prefer this to some crypto bullshit

[โ€“] rikudou 21 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Why not simply mandate all banks to support immediate payments? And to support webhooks for all payments? That would make it extremely easy to not rely on Visa/MasterCard.

[โ€“] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 13 points 3 days ago (7 children)

Instant payments have already been mandated through SEPA. It will come into force quite soon.

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[โ€“] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

How can you pay using webhooks?

[โ€“] rikudou 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Step 1. You pay using an immediate bank transfer

Step 2. Bank sends a webhook to the merchant letting him know in real time the money were received

Step 3. There's no step 3, you paid, merchant has got the money immediately and knows about it and you avoided using foreign card companies.

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[โ€“] kayazere@feddit.nl 3 points 2 days ago

Will there be a fixed supply or will the ECB be able to creat more like with fiat and devalue everyoneโ€™s money?

[โ€“] dumnezero@piefed.social 18 points 3 days ago (2 children)

What are "Politco.eu" political and billionaire ties? Just out of curiosity.

[โ€“] phneutral@feddit.org 30 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Politico was bought bei conservative German publisher Axel Springer SE some years ago. Their tabloid Bild is populist to right-wing. They have ties to German car manufacturers and other uber rich. CEO Dรถpfner is for example friends with Peter Thiel afaik.

[โ€“] Taalnazi@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Okay, so politico then can be discarded as reliable. I mean, it's soort of independent ish still, but I don't trust it to be that forever.

Going to stick with the Jacobin and Freedom (the British journal).

[โ€“] Microw@piefed.zip 2 points 11 hours ago

Euobserver and Euractiv are the leading media for EU developments and news, especially scoops from Brussels

[โ€“] Taalnazi@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

Not sure what's wrong, since I seem to be unable to edit the comment, so here's an addition.

Can rec this site also.

[โ€“] The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org 9 points 3 days ago

The main sources of revenue are advertising, event sponsorship and paid subscriptions with nearly half coming from the subscription business.[10]

from Wikipedia

'event sponsorship' is where you probably want to dig into to see where the money is being funneled

[โ€“] JumpyWombat@lemmy.ml 9 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Does it mean that half of Brussels is either in a bank's pocket or believes in some conspiracy theory lingering over any technology more evolved than a FM/AM radio?

[โ€“] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Probably a combination of older people, bankers (all of the big banks are headquartered in Brussels and payment processors like Bancontact, also Euroclear (people also forget about silent CSDs holding enormous power) which all together have a ridiculous amount of employees in Brussels as well as a separatist movement in Flanders that is like brexit but with even more racism and strawmen.

Then there is also the fact that here in Belgium, there is still quite a cash culture in some places. International payment processors have huge fees, so a lot of places only take Bancontact or cash still, which isn't a bad thing since most payment processors exist to transfer wealth from the working class to the owning class doing as little as possible to meet that goal with ridiculous fees.

[โ€“] JumpyWombat@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 days ago

there is still quite a cash culture in some places

The Digital Euro will be like gay marriages: if you don't like it, just don't have one ๐Ÿ˜‰

The opposition, as you said, comes essentially from lobbies.

[โ€“] Deckname@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[โ€“] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Well, they kinda did. They always do. Otherwise they're not really a bank are they? That's fine of course though as long as they're taking money to fulfill their job as a bank, not as a bailout because they failed to do so yet remain privatized for some reason (we all know why).

[โ€“] Deckname@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I know, i was just making a humourous addition to the whole "digital euro will steal your money" conspiracy theory :D

Heh I get it now!

Ah yes, the reduction to luddism. Advanced tech can be implemented in an user-respecting way or make a great tool for totalitarian governments to come. With this and Chat Control, the EU went on a very worrying course of total invigilation.

Does it make me afraid of this new technology? Sure. Do I keep paying with cash because I like coins clinking in my pocket? No, I hate carrying coins but the alternative of giving the oppressor information about my every step is so much worse.

[โ€“] HenriVolney@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Will it still be relevant once Wero has spread throughout the continent?

[โ€“] dumnezero@piefed.social 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Is Wero a private corporation? If yes, it can be bought by bigger corporations (such as ones from the US or China).

[โ€“] Zwiebel@feddit.org 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)
[โ€“] dumnezero@piefed.social 2 points 3 days ago

I see. Looks like a precursor to digital euro.

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