Readiness to Use the Digital Euro (CBDC) by Consumers Based on the Example of France and Germany

Robert Huterski, Ewa Zdunek-Rosa

Abstract


Theoretical background: Attempts to offer the users of state money its new digital form with characteristics partially similar to cash and cryptocurrencies led to the creation of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) concept. In October 2020, the European Central Bank (ECB) published a report on the conditions for building the concept of the digital euro. On January 12, 2021, the ECB completed collecting the opinions of potential users (understood as natural persons) and representatives of companies, institutions, and experts on their expectations for the future digital euro. However, the survey only asked a few questions about the preferred features of the digital euro. The questionnaire form was only available on the website of the ECB, which made the respondents a specific group as only those who were interested in visiting the website replied. Representatives of companies, institutions, and experts also provided answers from the user’s point of view. The questions did not take into account the characteristics of the respondents ensuring the representativeness of the research sample.

Purpose of the article: The article aims to define the relationship between the characteristics of consumers (individual users of money as a product of the central bank) from France and Germany and their acceptance of using the digital euro.

Research methods: The analysis used data from a survey conducted using the CAWI method. The study was conducted in August 2021 on a group of adult internet users representative in terms of gender, age, and place of residence, including 638 German and 646 French respondents (full responses).

Main findings: The results show that in both countries the consumers most willing to accept the digital euro are men rather than women, consumers already taking advantage of the opportunities offered by mobile banking, and consumers who believe that the money entrusted to banks is not safe. However, the differences observed in the example of only these two countries support the conclusion of other researchers about the need to conduct this type of research either in the entire eurozone or in selected eurozone countries with specific payment habits.


Keywords


digital euro; CBDC; technology acceptance; logit model

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/h.2024.58.4.67-85
Date of publication: 2024-10-26 13:52:04
Date of submission: 2024-01-17 18:15:51


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