According to CoinDesk, euro area central banks are set to announce plans for a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the coming weeks. The move aims to innovate how financial institutions settle securities and foreign exchange transactions, according to François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of France's central bank. The wholesale plans are progressing faster than the more controversial plan for a digital euro for ordinary citizens, which has raised concerns over privacy and the impact on commercial banks.
Villeroy de Galhau stated that the Eurosystem has begun exploring new technologies for the settlement of central bank money, including the issuance of a tokenized CBDC. The eligibility criteria and the call of interest will be published in the coming weeks, with experiments to be rolled out over the course of next year, including trials with real transactions. The central bank will also be exploring alternative protocols and blockchains, as well as its own proprietary Distributed Ledger for Securities Settlement System (DL3S).