The European Union plans to anchor its future digital Euro on public blockchains like Ethereum and Solana, according to revelations from the Financial Times. This choice would mark a major break with centralized approaches, like China, and could redefine the balance of monetary sovereignty in Europe.
In short
- The ECB explores Ethereum and Solana as an infrastructure for the digital euro, according to the Financial Times.
- This approach aims to counter the domination of American stablecoins which represent 98 % of the market.
- The final decision on the launch of the digital euro will take place before the end of 2025.
- A public digital euro would facilitate interoperability, but would raise governance issues.
Europe puts on Ethereum and Solana for its digital euro
The European Central Bank begins a decisive strategic turn in its reflection around the digital euro. While the first hypotheses favored private and closed infrastructure, the ECB now examines public blockchains like Ethereum and Solana closely. An orientation that breaks with traditional models.
According to Information reported by the Financial Timesthis option is now examined with much more seriousness by European officials. This evolution reflects an awareness: Europe can no longer remain away from innovation carried by decentralized networks.
The stake greatly exceeds the technical question. Opting for a public blockchain would position the digital euro breaking with the strategy of China, which deploys its Digital Yuan on a strictly private network.
The European approach would thus be similar, paradoxically, from the American model, where actors like Circle emit stablecoins on open infrastructure.
Public blockchains mainly offer a key advantage: interoperability. A digital euro on Ethereum could be integrated directly into existing defi protocols, strengthening the competitiveness of the European financial ecosystem. This native connectivity represents a major strategic asset in the global monetary battle.
Europe in the face of the challenge of digital monetary sovereignty
This Reorientation to public blockchains intervenes in a geopolitical context marked by a strong monetary rivalry. Europe observes with increasing concern the domination of American stablecoins, which today concentrate almost 98 % of the world market.
Behind this hegemony hides a simple reality: each transaction in USDT or USDC strengthens the influence of the dollar to the detriment of the euro. In this context, the digital euro appears as a strategic tool to preserve the monetary autonomy of the old continent.
Last April, Piero Cipollone, a member of the BCE board, had already alerted to the dangers of excessive dependence on the stablecoins in dollars. Deploying a digital euro on a public blockchain would offer a credible alternative, capable of directly competing the American solutions on their own technological field.
But this ambition also raises gray areas. As Juan Ignacio Ibañez, of the DLT scientific foundation said, in an interview with Cointelegraph, such a choice could arouse ” Increased state interest in influencing blockchain governance ».
The dilemma is clear: how to reconcile the decentralized spirit of Ethereum or Solana with the control of a central bank?
Europe can however rely on several already underway initiatives. In May 2025, the ECB announced a collaboration with the COTI blockchain in order to test confidential digital payment solutions as part of the digital euro project.
These works relate in particular to the integration of mechanisms guaranteeing the confidentiality of transactions while respecting the requirements of traceability imposed on regulators.
This expertise could lay the foundations for a digital euro both open, interoperable and respectful of privacy.
A crucial decision for the European monetary future
The calendar remains tight: the ECB must decide by the end of 2025 if the digital euro will really see the light of day. But unlike Europe, the United States has already decided. Under Donald Trump, the prospect of a national CBDC has been swept away, and the debate seems closed for a long time.
Across the Atlantic, monetary innovation is now based on the dynamism of private stablecoins, largely backed by the dollar, and on a regulatory framework in full structuring.
In Europe, the situation is different. The digital euro project divides and still arouses a lot of skepticism, both among citizens and in the private sector. The fear of a surveillance instrument or a too centralized tool fuels mistrust.
In this context, the option of an infrastructure based on Ethereum or Solana could offer a more acceptable alternative. It would not make criticism disappear, but it would anchor the digital euro in a technological framework already recognized and used on a global scale.
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