European Central Bank Announces Plan To Launch CBDC By October 2025

The European Central Bank (ECB) has officially announced plans to roll out a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The ‘Digital Euro’ will be a reality by October 2025.

Pierre Gramegna, director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), said that US President Donald Trump’s recent endorsement of cryptocurrencies could present financial difficulties for the European Union (EU). Furthermore, Gramegna expressed concerns about the US promoting stablecoins.

According to a 10 March 2025 Reuters report, “European lawmakers are voicing fresh doubt about the ECB’s digital euro project after an outage in the ECB’s existing payment system caused delays for thousands of households and traders.”

BREAKING:

THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK PLANS TO LAUNCH A CBDC BY OCTOBER 2025! pic.twitter.com/2jWP3jl9nW

— Crypto Rover (@rovercrc) March 8, 2025

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Urgency To CBDC Or Digital Euro Project

“If this were to be successful, it could affect the euro area’s monetary sovereignty and financial stability”, said Gramegna. “This digital euro is today more necessary than ever.” These statements were issued during the Eurogroup press conference.

Meanwhile, talking about the outage in the ECB payments system and questioning the digital euro, Markus Ferber of the European People’s Party said, “This instance is a blow to the ECB’s credibility. People will ask legitimate questions how the ECB will be able to run a digital euro when they cannot even keep their day-to-day operations running smoothly.”

Last month, the ECB said that it is ready to officially launch the preparation phase for the digital euro. ECB executive board member Piero Cipollone had said that Trump’s support for globally available stablecoins tied to the dollar would help create yet another US-made payment tool and added urgency to the digital euro project.

Furthermore, Cipollone said that the spread of US stablecoins as a means of payment was worrisome because it threatened to divert deposits away from European banks.

“If people in Europe start to use stablecoins to pay, given that most of them are American and dollar-based, they will be transferring their deposits from Europe to the US,” he said.

Explore: Is The EU Going to War With Crypto? EU Threatens to Pull OKX License Over Bybit Hack

Is The EU Going to War With Crypto?

An ongoing EU crypto investigation into OKX for allegedly laundering $100 million from the Bybit hack in February 2025, has seen the European bloc threatening to remove OKX MiCA license.

European regulators are reportedly probing OKX’s decentralized trading and self-custody offerings, which they claim were used by the Lazarus Group—a notorious hacking outfit allegedly sponsored by the North Korean regime—to launder some of the loot stolen from Bybit.

In February 2025, hackers struck Bybit, stealing over $1.4 billion of one of the best cryptos to buy in 2025 from one of its cold wallets. Though the exchange continues to operate normally without halting withdrawals, the hack was a major blow to the industry, once again bringing scrutiny to exchanges that had managed to fend off hackers for months.

The alleged investigation, which could see OKX lose its license to operate in the EU, raises critical questions about regulatory oversight and compliance, particularly with the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework.

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Central Banks Worldwide Delay CBDCs

Meanwhile, the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) and Giesecke + Devrient (G+D) recently released their latest survey on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to the public on 11 February 2025.

The report revealed that round 30% central banks have confirmed delaying CBDC plans. Despite growing concerns and delays, 67% central banks worldwide remain committed to launching CBDCs.

A marked hesitancy around issuing CBDCs has also been suggested in the outcomes of the report. It notes that despite extensive research and exploratory efforts, only a few central banks have officially issued CBDCs thus far. The two major reasons for delay are legislations and exploration of a wider range of solutions.

Primary concern being privacy, critics warn enabling CBDCs will enable governments to scrutinize transactions closely, without any oversight. Pushback to CBDCs grew post US President Donald Trump banning work on digital dollar. This was also followed by Fed Chair Jerome Powell doubling down on the cancellation.

Explore: Is European Central Bank Threatened By Bitcoin? German And Swiss Parliament Members Weigh In

The post European Central Bank Announces Plan To Launch CBDC By October 2025 appeared first on 99Bitcoins.