en
Back to the list

Spain’s municipal government will put a local digital euro to the test

source-logo  thecoinrepublic.com 29 July 2021 11:59, UTC
  • The Mayor of El Campello, Juanjo Berenguer, represented by Councilor for Finance Lourdes Llopis, applied to the Alicante municipality to be part of a pilot test
  • To put cryptocurrencies into reality on a large scale, pilot tests will be required to smooth out a thousand and one issues and establish the best way to apply them
  • According to the test’s organizers, the creation of a local digital euro would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for the municipality to serve as a pilot and guide for the international deployment of the digital euro in the future

If one resides in Alicante, one may soon get a taste of the future by experiencing what it will be like to make a purchase using a pilot version of the digital euro. The Mayor of El Campello, Juanjo Berenguer, represented by Councilor for Finance Lourdes Llopis, applied to the Alicante municipality to be part of a pilot test for the implementation of a local digital currency during the II International Congress on Digital Money and Governance, which took place on July 22 and 23. This is part of the testing for the future digital euro. 

A multinational and multidisciplinary research group, comprised of several universities and high-level governmental organizations, will investigate how society will accept the transition from euros in banknotes to digital money. To put cryptocurrencies into reality on a large scale, pilot tests will be required to smooth out a thousand and one issues and establish the best way to apply them. And, without a doubt, this will necessitate the participation of local governments, as well as an increase in local retail payments, in order to properly evaluate the project’s sustainability. And El Campello is willing to give it up right now for one.

The outcome of the initiative might influence the future of central bank-issued digital currencies in Europe (CBDCs). According to CriptoNoticias, the European Central Bank will investigate how towns may contribute if the public and private sectors work together over the next two years. This will be used to develop a digital currency based on the preferences of users, merchants, and middlemen. Carmen Pastor Sempere, a professor of commercial law and the director of the Baes BlockchainLab at the University of Alicante and the DIDINET research project, said: Surely everyone, humbly, with our modest contribution, can contribute to an inclusive design of the digital euro in municipal code, that promotes local retail payments, the structuring of the territory, and the relocation of the real and locative property.

According to the test’s organizers, the creation of a local digital euro would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for the municipality to serve as a pilot and guide for the international deployment of the digital euro in the future. Congress stated that local governments will be required to educate and acquaint their residents with bitcoin as a result of this. 

It was proposed during the II International Congress on Digital Money and Governance that El Campello experience a digital euro firsthand. El Campello Ajuntament’s Facebook page. The experience of the British town of Bristol was given as an example in Congress, where a local digital currency has been utilized as a supplement to the British pound with a 1:1 exchange rate since 2012. Is the first local currency in Europe to provide electronic accounts backed by a registered financial institution? It may also be used to pay municipal taxes and to buy goods and services. The lawmakers determined that the municipality of El Campello, which has an average population of 30 thousand people and is extremely open to innovative ideas, would be suitable for a pilot test.

thecoinrepublic.com