ECB must prepare to issue a digital euro

The European Central Bank should prepare to issue a digital euro to complement banknotes “if and when” it becomes necessary, ECB board member Fabio Panetta said on Friday. Fabio Panetta is the director of international and European relations at the European Central Bank Major central banks around the world are studying digital versions of their currencies to address demand for electronic means of payment and fend off competition from private tokens such as Bitcoin and Facebook’s proposed Libra. In a study published on Friday, the ECB said a digital euro could help where citizens have abandoned cash, foreign forms of…