Digital central bank money is for the distant future: Coeure

[November 15, 2018]  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Central banks are unlikely to issue digital currencies within the next decade, even in places where the use of cash is declining rapidly, European Central Bank board member Benoit Coeure said on Thursday.

Benoit Coeure, board member of the European Central Bank (ECB), is photographed during an interview with Reuters journalists at the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, May 17, 2017. Picture taken May 17, 2017. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

"There is broad agreement that a (central bank digital currency), in whatever form, is unlikely to be issued within the next decade, even among those four central banks that have indicated that they have reached the stage of developing a pilot project," Coeure told a conference in Basel.

The majority of the world's top central banks are already conducting studies on digital central bank money but such work is in early stages and the underlying technology also remains problematic, Coeure added.

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Francesco Canepa)

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