数字欧元报告（英文版）.pdf

Report on a digital euro October 2020Report on a digital euro 1 Contents Foreword 2 Executive summary 3 1 Introduction 6 2 Reasons to issue a digital euro possible scenarios and implied requirements 9 2.1 Scenarios related to core central bank functions 9 2.2 Scenarios related to the broader objectives of the EU 14 3 Potential effects of a digital euro and implied requirements 16 4 Legal considerations regarding a digital euro 24 5 Digital euro functional design possibilities 26 5.1 Key dimensions of functional specifications 26 5.2 Possible coexistence of types of digital euro 34 6 Technical and organisational approaches to digital euro services 36 6.1 Back-end infrastructure 36 6.2 End-user access solutions 41 6.3 Interfacing between digital euro users and the central bank infrastructure 43 7 Follow-up work 45 7.1 Operational considerations 45 7.2 Institutional framework 46 Annex 1: Digital euro characteristics identified in the report 48 Annex 2: The digital euro is not a crypto-asset or stablecoin 50 Annex 3: Wholesale application of a distributed infrastructure 52Report on a digital euro 2 Foreword A key part of the Eurosystems mission is to provide citizens with riskless money for their payments; the Eurosystem has been providing euro banknotes for nearly two decades. While cash is still the dominant means of payment, new technologies and the increasing demand for immediacy from consumers are changing the way European citizens pay. This is evident in the expanding role of fast electronic payments. To ensure that consumers continue to have unfettered access to central bank money in a way that meets their needs in the digital age, the ECBs Governing Council decided to advance work on the possible issuance of a digital euro an electronic form of central bank money accessible to all citizens and firms. A digital euro would be introduced alongside cash, it would not replace it. A digital euro would create synergies with private payment solutions and contribute to a more innovative, competitive and resilient European payment system. By serving as a unifying force in Europes digital economies, a digital euro would also be an emblem of the ongoing process of European integration. It is too early to commit to a specific design of a digital euro. But it is clear that any type of design must fulfil a number of principles and requirements identified in this report including accessibility, robustness, safety, efficiency and privacy while complying with relevant legislation. Issuing a digital euro would be relevant for nearly everything the Eurosystem does and it would have pervasive effects on society as a whole. This report will therefore form the basis for a dialogue with citizens and other external stakeholders. It will serve as a starting point for a public consultation in which we encourage everyone to participate. And together with the European Parliament and other European institutions and authorities, we will discuss the operational and legislative framework that would be necessary to introduce a digital euro. At the same time, experiments on the practical aspects of a digital euro are necessary to examine the strengths and weaknesses of different options. Looking ahead, we need to be ready to introduce a digital euro, shall the need arise. For now we maintain the options open as to whether and when this should happen. Our role is to secure trust in money. This means making sure the euro is fit for the digital age. Christine Lagarde ECB President Fabio Panetta ECB Executive Board Member and Chair of the Eurosystem High-Level Task Force on Central Bank Digital Currency (HLTF-CBDC)Report on a digital euro 3 Executive summary This report examines the issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) the digital euro from the perspective of the Eurosystem. Such a digital euro would be a central bank liability offered in digital form for use by citizens and businesses for their retail payments. It would complement the current offering of cash and wholesale central bank deposits. The possible advantages of a digital euro and the rapid changes in the retail payment landscape imply that the Eurosystem needs to be equipped to issue it in the future. A digital euro could support the Eurosystems objectives by providing citizens with access to a safe form of money in the fast-changing digital world. This would support Europes drive towards continued innovation. It would also contribute to its strategic autonomy by providing an alternative to foreign payment providers for fast and efficient payments in Europe and beyond. A digital euro may even become essential in a number of possible scenarios. For example, if the use of cash were to decline significantly, other electronic payment methods were to become unavailable owing to extreme events, or foreign digital money were to largely displace existing means of payment. In the absence of a digital euro, the Eurosystem would need to identify alternative tools to respond to the possible materialisation of one or more of these scenarios. For example, a decline in the use of cash as a means of payment could exacerbate financial exclusion for the “unbanked” and for vulnerable groups in our society, forcing the central bank to intervene. The introduction of a digital euro could address multiple scenarios at once, but it would have profound implications for key areas of central banking, for the broader economic and financial system, and, ultimately, for the life of European citizens. A digital euro would also support other strategic objectives of the Eurosystem. It could provide state-of-the-art payment services that reflect peoples changing needs and actively promote innovation in the field of retail payments, complementing private payment solutions. It could increase choice, competition and accessibility with regard to digital payments, supporting financial inclusion. A possible role for the digital euro as a tool to strengthen monetary policy is not identified in this report, but could emerge in the future on the basis of further analysis or owing to developments in the international financial system. Finally, the digital euro could represent an option for reducing the overall costs and ecological footprint of the monetary and payment systems. The Eurosystem would design the digital euro in such a way as to avoid possible undesirable implications for the fulfilment of its mandate, for the financial industry and for the broader economy. Some digital euro design options could affect the intermediation function of banks and their funding costs, especially in situations of stress. Furthermore, some potential configurations of a digital euro could lead to anReport on a digital euro 4 expansion of the size of the Eurosystems balance sheet and increase its exposure to shocks and could give rise to challenges in international financial markets related to larger capital flows. However, the analysis in this report indicates that by following appropriate strategies in the design of the digital euro the Eurosystem can address these challenges. The Eurosystem is conducting further analysis to fully understand the challenges and benefits that could emerge as a result of the introduction of a digital euro. In particular, we are examining the advantages and weaknesses of specific types of digital euro and how they would meet the needs and expectations of European citizens, businesses and financial intermediaries. A digital euro could be designed to replicate some key features of cash that are useful in the digital economy, such as the ability to make offline payments. However, it should also provide online payment capabilities that could support the fulfilment of the mandate of the Eurosystem in other areas. This report deliberately does not advocate a specific type of digital euro and does not reach conclusions on issues such as the setting-up, running costs or cost recovery of a digital euro. Any potential solution must satisfy a number of principles and requirements that are identified in this report including robustness, safety, efficiency and protection of privacy while complying with relevant legislation, including legislation on money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Our analysis suggests that most of the desirable features of a digital euro derived from our analysis are mutually compatible and can be combined to meet the requirements of the Eurosystem and of users. The report follows a pragmatic, policy-oriented approach to identify the essential elements of an effective digital euro. First, we derive its core principles, which must fully comply with the Eurosystems mandate, policies and principles. We then determine its scenario-driven requirements, which would make the introduction of a digital euro consistent with the fulfilment of the Eurosystems objectives and the needs of potential users. Finally, we identify the broader set of general requirements needed in all foreseeable scenarios to protect the European economy, the European financial system and the Eurosystem from unwarranted implications arising from the issuance of a digital euro. A digital euro could also support the general economic policies of the European Union (EU). It could satisfy the emerging payment needs of a modern economy by offering, alongside cash, a safe digital asset with advanced functionalities. The public sector may prove to be best placed to provide the safety, scale, level of convenience and accessibility needed to allow citizens, businesses and financial institutions to participate in the digital payment market. While the Eurosystem would always retain control over the issuance of a digital euro, supervised private intermediaries would be best placed to provide ancillary, user-facing services and to build new business models on its core back-end functionality. A model whereby access to the digital euro is intermediated by the private sector is therefore preferable. The technical implementation of a digital euro needs to be thoroughly tested and legal considerations carefully examined before any decision is taken on issuance.Report on a digital euro 5 Implementation requires a new infrastructure, perhaps building on the existing Eurosystem infrastructure and incorporating new technology. Practical experimentation is necessary to test functional designs and to explore the technical feasibility of different options, as well as their ability to satisfy the needs of prospective users. Experimental work should aim at identifying and developing a “minimum viable product” with the characteristics identified in the report. The High-Level Task Force on CBDC will coordinate this experimentation, so that the resources of the Eurosystem are leveraged efficiently. To ensure that meaningful answers are obtained to the open questions raised in this report, towards mid-2021 the Eurosystem will decide whether to launch a digital euro project, which would start with an investigation phase. The Eurosystem must address a number of important legal considerations related to a digital euro, including the legal basis for issuance, the legal implications of different design features and the applicability of EU legislation to the Eurosystem as the issuer. A close dialogue with other European authorities and institutions is necessary at an early stage in order to analyse the legislative changes that would be needed to issue a digital euro. Feedback from future end users and potential intermediaries is also necessary. Hence, the Eurosystem will solicit the views of other public authorities, financial institutions and society at large to assess the need, feasibility and actual business cases for a digital euro, without pre-empting a decision on issuance.Report on a digital euro 6 1 Introduction The Eurosystem provides safe money and reliable means of payments to households, businesses and the broader financial system in the euro area. By pursuing its tasks of maintaining monetary and financial stability and the smooth operation of payment systems, it ensures that money and payments serve European society. We have always been committed to maintaining confidence in our currency, which has meant adapting the form of money and payment services we provide to the changing ways in which people spend, save and invest. 1 The speed of innovation is accelerating and citizens show an increasing preference for digital payments. This is changing the payment landscape, raising questions that go to the very heart of our core functions. Against this background, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) established a High-Level Task Force in January 2020 in order to advance work on central bank digital currencies (CBDC) in the euro area. This report presents the main findings of the Task Force, which analysed the possible benefits and challenges as well as the legal, functional and technical issues associated with the introduction of a CBDC in the euro area i.e. a digital euro. In this report, the term digital euro denotes a liability of the Eurosystem recorded in digital form as a complement to cash and central bank deposits. The analysis focuses on the design of a digital euro for use in retail transactions available to the general public that is, including citizens and non-bank firms rather than only being available to traditional participants (typically banks) in the large-value payment system managed by the central bank. The analysis covers the key dimensions of a digital euro, such as the scenarios in which it could help to achieve the objectives of the Eurosystem; 2 the identification of viable designs and their assessment, with particular reference to the applicable legal framework and the implications for monetary policy, financial stability and the payment system; and possible options for the underlying infrastructure and the practical testing of such an infrastructure by the Eurosystem. The digitalisation of the economy and technological innovations are influencing consumer perceptions of payment services and fuelling interest in the possible issuance of a digital euro. Central banks are the natural candidates for issuing a digital currency. Even leaving aside legal considerations (for example, the legal tender status 1 For instance, the Eurosystem responded to technological change and increasing demand for much faster payments by enhancing its infrastructure and creating the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) service to enable instant and cost-efficient payments throughout Europe. 2 This report is intended to assess whether the introduction of a digital euro could fulfil relevant objectives in any of the scenarios under consideration, but it does not assess whether this would be the optimal solution in comparison with other available options.Report on a digital euro 7 of central bank liabilities) citizens place the most confidence in digital money issued by their domestic monetary authority. 3 Moreover, the