At the annual ECB Forum on Central Banking in Sintra, Portugal, which this year took place online, ECB President Christine Lagarde said the ECB will decide next January on a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Lagarde said that the ECB was not “racing to be first” in its efforts to release a central bank digital currency. However, she said that the results of the consultation the central bank launched in October on a digital euro would be ready in January 2021.
“At that point in time we will make the decision as to whether or not we go forward with the digital euro,” stated Lagarde. “My hunch — but this is a decision that will be taken collectively — is that we might well go in that direction.”
