 The cash in your wallet is central bank money issued by us the European central bank Right now you can't use central bank money to make electronic payments When you make online payments or pay with your cards, you use the money held by your commercial bank. With a digital euro We want to offer you money that's digital and electronic and also issued by the ECB. Why? First you could use the digital euro like you use cash today and you could do it throughout the entire euro area Second, a digital euro could strengthen our overall payment system here in Europe All major card companies and online payment providers are located outside the euro area A digital euro could be a European alternative We want you to be able to use your money safely and to make our payment system stronger as we all Relay on it every day