经济学人下载:各国央行推出数字货币,中国成领跑者(2)

Much like other central banks, the ECB wants to offer consumers digital tender that is as safe as physical cash. Unlike bank deposits, a claim on central-bank reserves carries no credit risk. Digital-currency transactions could be settled instantly on the central bank's ledger, rather than using the pipes of card networks and banks. That could provide a back-up system in the event that outages or cyber-attacks cause private payment channels to fail. 

欧洲央行在很大程度上和其他央行一样，希望向消费者提供和现金一样安全的数字货币。对央行储备的拥有权与银行存款不同，它不存在信用风险。数字货币交易可以通过央行分类帐即时结算，无需使用信用卡网络和银行渠道。当出现因停电或者网络攻击而导致私营支付渠道不能正常运行时，它可以作为一个后备系统。

The bank also sees a digital currency as a potential tool to bolster the international role of the EURO, which makes up just 20% of central-bank reserves globally, versus the dollar's 60%. It could let foreigners settle cross-border transactions directly in central-bank money, which would be faster, cheaper and safer than directing them through a web of "correspondent" banks. That could make the digital EURO attractive to businesses and investors. 

欧洲央行还把数字货币视为一种可能增强欧元国际地位的工具。欧元仅占全球央行储备的20％，而美元占60％。数字货币可以让外国人直接用央行货币结算跨境交易，这比通过“代理”银行网络结算更快、更便宜，也更安全，可能会让企业和投资者对数字欧元感兴趣。

Its main draw may be to offer a level of privacy that neither America nor China can promise, says Dave Birch, a fintech expert. The former uses its financial system to enforce sanctions; the latter seeks control. But getting the design right will be tricky: the European Union still wants to be able to track cash that is being laundered or hidden to dodge taxes. One fix could be to let users open e-wallets only once they have been vetted by banks, but for the use of the digital currency itself to be unmonitored. 

金融科技专家戴夫·伯奇表示，数字欧元的主要吸引力可能是它能提供美国和中国都无法保证的某种程度的隐私保护。美国利用其金融系统制裁别国，中国则是寻求控制。不过，想要把数字欧元设计妥当并不容易，因为欧盟仍希望能够追踪洗钱或为避税而隐藏的现金。一种解决方法是让用户仅在经银行验证后才能打开电子钱包，但他们对数字货币的使用则不受监控。

A wildly successful digital EURO could siphon deposits away from banks and threaten the availability of credit. Remedies being considered include capping the amount of currency users can hold or—as Fabio Panetta, a member of the ECB's executive board, suggested on February 10th— charging penalties on use above a threshold. A digital EURO could also involve "huge legal reform", says Huw van Steenis of UBS, a bank. "Settlement finality"—which governs when a payment completes and cannot be reversed—varies across the EURO zone's 19 countries, and would need to be harmonised. Launching a CBDC will take more than token efforts. 

数字欧元如果大获成功，可能会从银行吸走存款，威胁到信贷的供应。正在考虑的补救措施包括限制用户可以持有的数字欧元的数量，或者如2月10日欧洲央行执行委员会委员法比奥·帕内塔建议的那样，对超过上限使用数字欧元施以处罚。瑞银（UB）的休范斯坦尼斯表示，推出数字欧元可能还需要“巨大的法律改革”。欧元区19个国家的“结算最终性”（决定付款何时完成且不可撤销）各不相同，需要统一。推出一种CBDC可不是做做样子就行的。