The digital Euro debate: Who controls your money?

In March 2023 European Central Bank (ECB) chief Christine Lagarde fell for a prank call where she unwittingly revealed that Europe’s central bank digital currency, the digital euro, will have a “limited amount of control”. Though anecdotal, it was one more cog in the general direction of travel where physical cash gets pushed aside by digital means of payment that’s both issued and controlled by a central authority. Whatever the motive, benign or not, the issue comes down to control.

In the...