The ECB has just revealed the panel of actors it is preparing to entrust with the implementation of the first iteration of the future “digital Euro” or E-Euro. If the presence of a Spanish bank or the Italian Nexi will not surprise observers, it is difficult to say the same when it comes to the surprise presence of the American giant… Amazon.
The future digital euro ordered… on Amazon
It is an announcement that has the effect of a small bomb and whose implications will probably go well beyond the simple technological or even economic perimeter.
The European Central Bank (BCE) has in fact just unveiled the 5 strategic partners who will have the task, as heavy as it is historic, of proposing a first prototype of the digital euro.
And, on a European territory yet rich in skills and initiative in the economic and fintech sectors, it is nevertheless the Amazon giant that we find among these 5 actors, gathered around an initiative likely to deeply reforge the economic and monetary face of the old world.
An actor private, purely commercial in nature, and American so. 3 characteristics that we would politely qualify as surprising in view of the stakes – including geopolitics and sovereignty – carried away by the implementation of nothing less than a unified European electronic currency, very likely potentially associated with subjects as insensitive as personal data and digital identity…
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An e-euro arrived faster than an Amazon Prime delivery?
According to the terms of the press release, Amazon will be in charge of e-payments. At his side, the Spanish bank was selected CaixaBank which will be in charge of online peer-to-peer payments for a mobile application, and the French multinational Worldlineresponsible for the offline version.
Finally, the Italian Nexi will be in charge of point-of-sale payments in the same way as the organization European Payments Initiativea group of 31 banks and credit institutions.
The ECB seems to want to act quickly, even though it recently indicated that the digital Euro was not anticipated before 2026.
“The five vendors chosen best match the “specific capabilities” required for the assigned use case. The ECB appreciates the great interest shown in the prototyping exercise. The prototyping exercise is an important part of the ongoing two-year investigation phase of the digital euro project. It is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023, when the ECB will also publish its findings. »
ECB press release of 16 September 2022
Renowned for the speed of its deliveries, will the global e-commerce giant be able to speed up the process? More importantly, will it be possible to return the product in case of dissatisfaction? So many questions, very few answers, even if one question remains: If you liked Bitcoin in El Salvador, will you love AmazonCoin in the bakery around the corner?
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