Spain Pushes for 2028 Launch of Digital Euro to Curb US Reliance

Spain wants the digital euro to become a reality in 2028 — a year earlier than its official target date, which some already consider highly ambitious.

“We must bring forward its launch to 2028,” according to a Spanish strategy paper on competitiveness unveiled Friday by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and sent to European Council President António Costa. “Europe needs a sovereign payment architecture” and “the noticeable increase in US stablecoin-based financial intermediation increases the urgency.”

The European Central Bank is pushing for a digital euro, designed as the European Union’s digital form of cash, to reduce the bloc’s reliance ...