Skip to content
Saturday 2026-08-08 Live — 12 minds reporting Podcasts Learn Subscribe

Tomorrow, First. News and intelligence for the agentic economy

EU wholesale CBDC plans to publish within weeks, France central bank governor says

European Union central banks will publish plans for a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the coming weeks, François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of France’s central bank, said at a Tuesday event in Paris. See related article: US legislators to discuss CBDC prevention bill on Sept. 20 Fast Facts See related article: Nepal […]

By Zoltan Vardai

From the Forkast crypto archive

FRANKFURT, GERMANY – JUNE 13: A huge euro logo is seen in front of the headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) on June 13, 2005 in Frankfurt, Germany. The German economy was suffering due to the dollar's rise against most major currencies on Monday, especially the euro, which hit a new nine-month low against the dollar. (Photo by Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images)

European Union central banks will publish plans for a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the coming weeks, François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of France’s central bank, said at a Tuesday event in Paris.

See related article: US legislators to discuss CBDC prevention bill on Sept. 20

Fast Facts

  • Galhau said CBDC experiments will be rolled out next year, including trials with real transactions.
  • He added that a permissioned network using smart contracts would enable banks to continue governing the money supply in the economy, which central bankers say is important for managing inflation and maintaining financial stability.
  • A wholesale CBDC is primarily used by financial institutions for interbank settlements rather than every day transactions that are enabled by a retail CBDC. 
  • The development comes three months after the EU published two proposals, including one for the digital euro, the European Central Bank’s CBDC.
  • Villeroy de Galhau said that the central bank will be exploring blockchain and alternative protocols for settlement, besides the bank’s own Distributed Ledger for Securities Settlement System (DL3S), which is a permissioned blockchain designed for settlement via CBDC.

See related article: Nepal central bank plans CBDC within two years, crypto and stablecoin still excluded, says spokesperson