June 29, 2022
ICA Editor
Press Release

PRESS RELEASE 

June 17, 2022 – The International Currency Association (ICA), representing the global currency sector, has confirmed its submission to the European Commission’s recent targeted consultation on the digital euro. The consultation was launched to complement the ECB’s public consultation on the Digital Euro conducted in 2021 and aims to gather further evidence on a range of issues that will impact on the future development of a digital euro.  Crucially, the consultation also presents an opportunity to respond to questions on the legal tender status of euro cash as well as the ongoing role of cash in retail payments, reflecting the commission’s commitment to the ECB cash 2030 strategy.

ICAs contribution to the ECB consultation elaborates specifically on the characteristics of physical cash that a digital currency should have in order to be able to truly play the role of ‘digital cash’ as well as on the conditions which need to be met for ‘physical cash’ and a public digital currency to co-exist.

ICA Director General, Jutta Buyse, comments, “The ICA has consistently reiterated the importance of cash as a public good for European citizens. In order for physical cash to continue to play its role as a public good, a CBDC must therefore, truly be a digital expression of cash-accessible universally and at no cost, operational offline, and with maximum safeguards in place for both privacy and security.

Buyse continues, “This consultation has also been an important opportunity to address the question of whether further legislation is needed to ensure universal acceptance of cash, particularly in retail payments. Too often, citizens in the EU are being refused the right to pay in cash, reflecting confusion around the legal tender status of cash and so we salute the commission in providing the occasion for such reflection to be given.  Coming just on the heels of the recent success US bipartisan efforts to introduce a Payments Choice Act in the US House of Representatives, the EU can use this opportunity to ensure the universal acceptance of cash, alongside the future digital euro.”

ICAs general statement on the digital euro is available to view on its website.

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Contact: Chloe Menhinick, Director of Communication ICA Email:

chloe.menhinck@currencyassociation.org | Mobile: +31 6 28729479

About the International Currency Association The International Currency Association exists to create a coherent voice for the currency industry –covering design, production, manufacturing and distribution. We are the first industry body of its kind with a membership made up of businesses that span the sector. https://currencyassociation.org/