Roger on Nostr: The ECB's Cipollone calls the digital euro a question of sovereignty. In April he put ...

The ECB's Cipollone calls the digital euro a question of sovereignty. In April he put the number behind it: two thirds of euro-area card payments are governed by non-European companies. Real-transaction pilot in 2027, rollout as early as 2029, if Brussels passes the regulation this year.

The dependence is real. Swapping a foreign card network for a homegrown one leaves the payer in the same chair, still asking a company or a central bank whether the payment may happen. What changes is the address of the landlord.

Hayek answered this in 1976 by arguing the other way: competition, not a cleaner monopoly. Let currencies compete and people keep the ones that hold value.

A ledger the issuer can read, freeze and reprogram is not independence from third parties. It is the third party moving in and keeping the keys.