According to French newspaper Les Echos, the central bank of France intends to test a central bank digital currency (CBDC) reserved only for financial institutions next year. This will be the first digital currency launched by a central bank in Europe.

“We intend to start experimenting quickly and launch a call for projects (for private sector players) by the end of the first quarter of 2020” explained the governor of the Central Bank of France. He also mentioned that a CBDC for individuals is much more difficult to be put in place due to the high amounts of anonymous transactions.

Even if the digital euro will be used only for the financial institutions, France seems to be in the first line of innovators in the digital cryptocurrencies and more countries will follow soon.