France’s central banker Beau clashes with Lagarde over private digital euro plans
France’s central bank deputy governor told CoinDesk public and private European entities need to get involved in digital asset development, diverging sharply from Christine Lagarde’s stance.
What to know:
- Denis Beau, deputy governor of France’s central bank, is urging a broad public-private push to develop euro-based tokenized money to counter the dominance of dollar-pegged stablecoins.
- His stance contrasts with that of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, who is wary of privately issued stablecoins and favors a central bank digital euro targeted for around 2029.
- Beau’s position aligns with Qivalis, a consortium of major European banks planning a private digital euro, amid fears that the lack of liquid on-chain euro options will accelerate “digital dollarization” and weaken Europe’s monetary sovereignty.
While Lagarde described the $310 billion privately-issued stablecoin market, currently dominated by Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, as instruments that “risk amplifying the very vulnerabilities we are trying to overcome,” Beau told CoinDesk that private sector solutions are necessary for the region’s economic development.
The different views, however, reveal a growing concern in Europe over the “digital dollarization.” With a stablecoin sector projected to rise to the trillions of dollars in the coming years, a lack of euro-pegged currencies could force European capital into dollar-backed assets, potentially eroding the euro’s global influence and monetary sovereignty.
“To ensure a sound development of tokenized finance in Europe, its payment and settlement asset pillar should be in euro and build on the solid foundation of our current two-tier monetary system,” Beau said in an interview with CoinDesk.
