海外之声丨央行数字货币与隐私保护

导读

技术进步正迅速改变支付领域，央行需认真考虑发行中央银行数字货币（CBDC）的可能性，尤其是在欧元体系内，零售和批发CBDC项目都在紧锣密鼓地进行。随着生活日益数字化，现金使用量逐渐减少，尤其是在网上购物领域，消费者几乎只能选择电子支付。然而，现有的电子支付选项存在不足，一些支付卡只能在特定国家使用，跨境支付选项则多为非欧洲的，这限制了欧洲在关键基础设施上的战略自主性。因此，作为社会的服务提供者，央行需要考虑为公众提供一种数字形式的中央银行货币。

欧洲央行针对批发CBDC正在进行多项试验和实验，以测试利用分布式账本技术（DLT）进行实时结算的可能性。这些解决方案被市场参与者高度关注，尤其是德意志联邦银行提供的触发解决方案，该方案由于无需升级现有系统而被认为是高效且易于实施。

但是，根据德意志联邦银行的一项代表性调查，只有41%的德国受访者表示听说过数字欧元，而59%的人对此一无所知。在听说过的人中，26%不知道数字欧元是什么，只有17%了解它是一种由中央银行发行的附加支付手段。这表明，公众对数字欧元存在显著的知识和理解差距，许多人甚至将其与加密货币或一般的无现金支付手段混淆。尽管存在这些误解，调查也显示，半数受访者可以想象使用数字欧元。大多数受访者希望数字欧元具备离线支付选项，并基于纯欧洲的基础设施。最重要的是，75%的受访者认为保护隐私是数字欧元的关键特性。

为了使数字欧元成功，必须提供尽可能高的隐私保护，同时遵守反洗钱法规。在使用数字欧元支付时，只有运营钱包的银行能完全掌握交易信息，且未经用户同意不得将这些信息用于商业目的。如果进行离线支付，则不会与任何人共享个人信息，如同现金支付一样。

数据被视为21世纪最有价值的商品。原则上，人们用个人数据支付服务并无不妥，前提是他们知道谁在使用哪些数据以及出于什么目的使用，并明确同意这些用途。在实际使用中，假如消费者在埃尔特维勒的酒庄购买葡萄酒并使用数字欧元支付时，只有操作钱包的银行能够完全了解交易信息，且不得在未经用户同意的情况下将这些信息用于商业目的，那么离线支付的情况下，不会有任何个人信息被共享，这与现金支付类似。

尽管距离发行数字欧元还有很长的路要走，与欧元体系外的专家交流意见非常重要且有价值。通过讨论和研究，央行能够更好地应对数字货币带来的挑战和机遇，为未来的金融系统铺平道路。

作者｜乔阿希姆·纳格尔（德意志联邦银行行长）

Joachim Nagel: The digital euro and the protection of privacy

Opening video address by Dr Joachim Nagel, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank,

at the International Conference on Payments and Securities Settlement – Data and

Information, Eltville, 5 July 2024.

1 Introduction

Ladies and gentlemen,

展开全文

A very warm welcome to you all on this second day of the International Conference on Payments and Securities Settlement. I'm sorry I can't be with you today in person and can only send you this video message.

The conference was organised together with the Bank of Canada. I am very grateful for this cooperation between our two central banks. Many thanks to the organising teams on both sides of the pond!

The aim of this conference is to bring together experts on payments and securities settlement and to give them the opportunity to present and discuss their research.

Technological advances have revolutionized the payment landscape both for payment professionals and for the general public. Professionals have started to reap the benefits of tokenization for payments and settlement. The public are increasingly using contactless payments, digital wallets, and peer-to-peer transfer services.

These innovations provide instant and secure transactions, transforming the way we manage money. As central banks, we need to ask ourselves what implications these new technical capabilities have for our services.

One key question is whether our analogue core product of cash should be complemented by a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. If so, we need to decide whether to issue CBDC for the general public or for payment professionals like financial institutions.

In the Eurosystem, we are considering both of these things—that is, both retail and wholesale CBDC. Needless to say, the retail project is attracting the most public attention. But let me first say a few words on wholesale CBDC.

The Eurosystem has done pioneering work to explore the real-time settlement of wholesale financial transactions in central bank money using new technologies. Trials and experiments are taking place over the next few months. We are testing three Eurosystem solutions that allow wholesale financial transactions to be recorded on DLT platforms and settled in central bank money.

Market participants seem highly interested. This shows that solutions for wholesale CBDC could be an important step for our future financial system. The trigger solution, a settlement mechanism offered by the Bundesbank, has attracted significant market interest.

We are convinced that the trigger solution is highly efficient and comes with hardly any unwanted implications. Rather, it is easy to implement because there would be no need to upgrade the existing and established T2 system.

That is the good news from the wholesale side. Now I would like to focus on the retail project.

2 Why we need a digital euro

The digital euro is currently in the "preparation phase", as it is called. In this phase, which is scheduled to run until October 2025, our experts are preparing for the possible implementation of a retail digital euro in the euro area. The ECB's Governing Council will take a decision after this phase and following adoption of the necessary legislation.

I am aware that some people have their reservations about the digital euro project. We need to take these reservations seriously and counter people's concerns with compelling arguments.

One of the main arguments against a digital euro is that we do not need it at all. In my view, that argument is flawed.

Our lives are turning increasingly digital. In shops, more and more people prefer to pay with cashless means of payment. And when it comes to online shopping, which is becoming ever more important, we as customers have no choice but to pay electronically. Both of these factors mean that cash use is lower than it once was.

However, the electronic payment options currently available to euro area households have their deficiencies. Some payment cards work only in specific countries. And all the cross-border payment options are currently non-European, which limits our strategic autonomy in a critical infrastructure.

That's why, as a service provider to society, we are thinking about offering a digital form of central bank money for the general public.

3 Results from a public survey on the digital euro

If I could see you now, I would see a group of experts who know exactly what makes CBDC special. And what sets it apart from other digital assets. However, if we look at the digital euro's main target group, the general public, we see significant gaps in their knowledge and understanding.

A recent representative survey for the Bundesbank showed that this is the case for the German population.1 Only 41 percent of respondents said they had already heard, read or seen anything about the digital euro. By contrast, 59 percent said they knew nothing about it yet.

That doesn't come as much of a surprise, though. As long as the final decision on the digital euro has not been taken, it makes little sense for the Eurosystem to launch a large-scale public awareness drive.

Once that decision to introduce the digital euro has been taken, there will of course be an advertising and education campaign. And that will be necessary.

Currently, there are fundamental misunderstandings about the digital euro. Even within the group of respondents that had already heard of it, 26 percent had no idea what the digital euro actually is. Only 17 percent said something like, The digital euro is intended to serve as an additional means of payment issued by the central bank.

In other words, only seven out of a hundred Germans know about CBDC and haveunderstood its concept correctly. All the others either don't know about the digital euro or don't have a clear picture of it. Some confuse it either with cryptocurrencies or with cashless means of payment in general. Others think it is intended to replace cash or monitor their payment flows.

Such misconceptions are certainly related, in part, to negative campaigns and fake news about the digital euro. And they suggest it will be a challenge to tell people what the digital euro really is (and what it isn't).

The encouraging takeaway from the survey is that half of all respondents could generally imagine using a digital euro. That particular question was preceded by an explanation that it would be a digital form of cash as an additional means of payment, issued by the central bank. And that cash would continue to exist.

Moreover, I am confident that many of those who currently cannot imagine using the digital euro will change their minds once they see it in practice. The survey also showed what characteristics a digital euro needed to have in order for people to embrace it. For example, 59 percent of the respondents said that having an option to pay offline was important or very important; 72 percent said it was important that a digital euro would be based on a purely European infrastructure.

However, the most important feature for respondents is the protection of privacy. Three out of four respondents said it was important or very important for the digital euro to protect their privacy better than existing payment options.

4 The digital euro and the protection of privacy

To make the digital euro a success, it is therefore of the essence to provide the highest possible level of privacy, while complying with anti-money laundering regulations.

Therefore, I am pleased to note that the panel immediately following my video message will be focusing on privacy and CBDC. Both papers covered by the panel provide useful thoughts on the trade-off between data use and data protection.

Data are considered the most valuable commodity of the 21st century. And, in principle, there is nothing wrong with people paying for services with their personal data. Provided they know who is using which data for what purpose and they explicitly accept those uses.

However, many people aren't happy about their data being used commercially. They don't want people to be tracking their consumption behaviour. And they are perfectly entitled to have their data protected.

So if you were to go to a winery in Eltville to buy some bottles of Riesling and pay with the digital euro, only the bank that operates your wallet would have full visibility of the transaction. But it is not allowed to use that information commercially without your consent.

The Eurosystem will not be able to assign the transaction to you personally. And if you pay offline, no personal information whatsoever is shared with anyone else. Like with cash.

5 Conclusion

Ladies and gentlemen, There is still a long way to go before we can issue the digital euro. Exchanging views and opinions with experts from outside the Eurosystem is very important and valuable in this regard.

编译：浦榕

监制：崔洁

来源｜国际支付与证券结算会议

版面编辑｜傅恒恒

责任编辑｜李锦璇、蒋旭

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