France to Test Its Central Bank Digital Currency in Q1 2020: Official

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The central bank of France plans to pilot a central bank digital currency for financial institutions in 2020.

François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of the Bank of France, announced that the bank will start testing the digital euro project by the end of the first quarter 2020, French financial publication Les Echos reports Dec. 4.

The Bank of France confirmed the news on Twitter, noting that the announcement was made at a conference co-hosted by two major French financial regulators, the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority and the Autorité des marchés financiers.

The project aims to assert France's sovereignty over private digital currency initiatives like Facebook's stablecoin Libra, Villeroy reportedly said.

According to some reports, France led the anti-Libra effort alongside Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.

Villeroy calls on France to become the first country in the world to issue a CBDC. According to a tweet by the Bank of France, its governor emphasized that France should become the first country in the world to issue a CBDC and provide an exemplary model to other jurisdictions.

"I see the interest in rapidly advancing the issuance of at least one central bank digital currency in order to be the leading issuer globally and get the benefits associated with providing an exemplary central bank digital currency."

France has emerged as a major adopter of blockchain tech and Bitcoin.

In late November 2019, the first deputy governor of the Bank of France called for a blockchain-based settlements and payments systems in Europe.

In mid-October, French crypto startup Keplerk relaunched its service to accept Bitcoin payments in over 5,200 tobacco shops in France.

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