The introduction of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in general, and of a digital euro in particular, has attracted growing interest from academic research, central banks and political decision-makers. Most of the existing literature is focused on the impact of a digital euro on monetary...

Libra - a global virtual currency project initiated by Facebook - has been the subject of many controversial discussions since its announcement in June 2019. This paper provides a differentiated view on Libra, recognising that different development scenarios of Libra are conceivable. Libra could...

Libra - a global virtual currency project initiated by Facebook - has been the subject of many controversial discussions since its announcement in June 2019. This paper provides a differentiated view on Libra, recognising that different development scenarios of Libra are conceivable. Libra could...

The phenomenon of virtual currencies has to be distinguished from the underlying distributed ledger technologies. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies need to be subject to strict fi nancial regulation and supervision to ensure investor protection. At the same time, distributed ledger technologies...

Die Distributed Ledger- bzw. Blockchain-Technologie führt zu einer zunehmenden Dezentralisierung von Finanzdienstleistungen ("Decentralised Finance"), die weitgehend ohne die Einschaltung von Finanzintermediären angeboten werden können. Dazu trägt wesentlich die sog. "Tokenisierung" von...

The digital euro project will reach an important milestone this year when the preparation phase ends and the governing council of the ECB will decide whether to enter the next phase before the launch phase. This article provides an overview on how a digital euro is intended to work. An...