Olaf Schulz is Germany's finance minister and is known for his scathing criticism of cryptocurrencies.
Mr. Olaf recently called on the European Central Bank (ECB) to move faster in its decision on developing a potential digital euro.
He believes that the rapid development of the digital euro would close the way for cryptocurrencies to spread in the euro area.
The growing appetite for digital currency:
According to a report issued by "Reuters" published on November 27, the report shows a request and urges German Finance Minister "Olaf Schultz" the European Union to accelerate plans for the proposed digital euro.
Speaking on a webcast about the future of payments in the European region, Schulz noted that most businesses and consumers are starting to demand digital money.
The German Finance Minister confirmed:
Regarding the digital euro, I think we must work hard.
It is nothing where we must wait and see.
We should be able to decide at any time that we must now do something with the digital euro.
Schulz's shouting about the issuance of a digital currency to the European Central Bank echoes the sentiments expressed by the French central bank governor, François Villeroy de Gallo, last September.
According to De Gallo, the digital euro was important because the European Union could not be left behind in the CBDC race.
The European Central Bank (ECB) president also made comments regarding the digital euro last September.
And Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, also spoke that the introduction of the digital euro will seek to complement the fiat currency system in the region.
The European Central Bank polls the Europeans about the decentralized digital euro… Details here
Special stable coins push governments towards central bank digital currencies:
Arguably, Schulze is one of the finance chiefs vocal in the fight against cryptocurrencies in Europe.
On several occasions, Germany's finance minister has issued warnings about the risks of private digital currencies such as Facebook-sponsored Libra.
Earlier in 2020, "Jens Weidman" head of the German Central Bank called on European regulators to act to prevent the "Libra" currency from gaining a foothold in the European region.
At that time, the Bundesbank chief also offered the digital euro as a viable countermeasure against projects such as the “Libra” currency.
Back in September, the European Central Bank revealed that it was close to releasing a detailed report on the planned digital euro.
While the European Union is still in the research stage, China is already in the advanced testing stages of the Digital Currency Electronic Payment Project (DCEP).
The introduction of digital yuan currency at gas stations and gas stations in a Chinese city
The CBDC fever is also spreading to other countries, as Japan and South Korea prepare for pilot tests of a sovereign digital currency in 2021.
According to a recent study by the European Financial Technology Research Center "dGen", up to three to five countries will replace paper currency by 2030.