ECB's Isabel Schnabel calls for central bank digital currencies onchain to prevent tokenized markets from relying on private or foreign currencies.
Regulation & Gov ·
ECB board member Isabel Schnabel has warned that central bank money needs to move onchain to counter the risk that tokenized markets could depend on private or foreign currencies instead of official euro infrastructure. The concern reflects a broader strategic tension: as crypto assets and stablecoin adoption accelerate across Europe, the ECB faces the prospect of losing monetary sovereignty if dollar-backed tokens or other non-official digital assets become the primary settlement layer for onchain commerce.
Schnabel's statement sits within the ECB's wider digital euro initiative, which includes partnerships with payment infrastructure providers and a planned 2029 rollout to bring central bank money into tokenized finance. The ECB has already rejected looser regulatory rules for euro stablecoins over banking risks, and it continues to shape EU crypto oversight through MiCA and coordination with national regulators. The digital euro project is positioned as a defensive move—ensuring that Europeans transact in euros rather than dollars or private alternatives when they move onto blockchain networks.
Open questions remain about the technical architecture and timeline for bringing ECB money genuinely onchain, and whether a retail digital euro will attract sufficient adoption to prevent stablecoin dominance in tokenized markets.