Episode 301 - Casting Light on the Digital Euro, with Nicola Branzoli, Banca d'Italia

As with many institutions, the European Central Bank is considering how to modernize central bank money. One way to do this is to issue a retail CBDC or central bank digital currency. This would make a digital version of central bank money available to the public. A retail CBDC would complement the physical form of widely available central bank money that we know and love today, which is physical cash or banknotes. Many central banks around the world have been exploring a retail CBDC, and the live examples include Nigeria, China, India, and the Caribbean, specifically the Bahamas, which was the first country to issue retail CBDC, and Jamaica. The ECB has also for years been researching and exploring this topic and is preparing to issue a pilot of its retail CBDC, the digital euro, in the second half of 2027. In this episode, Nicola Branzoli, Head of Division for the Digital Euro Regulation, Research, and Technical Support at the Banca d'Italia, joins Glenbrook's Ashley Lannquist and Simon Skinner for an in-depth exploration of the digital euro. Listen in as they cover the objectives and value proposition, design choices and pilot details, and what the digital euro means in the broader European payment context.