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ECB's Lane warns stablecoins threaten euro sovereignty at London forum
Philip Lane, ECB chief economist, will tell Deutsche Bank Forum that private stablecoins could erode the euro's role. He pushes digital euro as public alternative.
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Philip Lane, the European Central Bank's chief economist, will warn against private stablecoins at the Deutsche Bank Forum in London on June 19. He is expected to argue that dollar-pegged tokens threaten the euro's global standing, and repeat his call for a digital euro as a public alternative.
Lane's talk covers monetary policy under uncertainty, financial system resilience, and private credit. Stablecoins are the headline issue. In earlier remarks this year, Lane said stablecoins could disrupt traditional banking. If consumers shift deposits into stablecoins, banks lose funding. The ECB's interest rate tools become less effective, he argued, because the money bypasses the banking system.
Lane has also pointed to the currency imbalance. Most stablecoins in use are dollar-denominated, he said. If those become the default payment method in Europe, the eurozone would delegate monetary sovereignty to private issuers, many of them American. He called that an unacceptable outcome.
His proposed solution is the digital euro – a central bank digital currency designed to match stablecoins on convenience while keeping control with the ECB. The digital euro would be available to all eurozone residents and businesses and could be used for everyday payments. Lane has said it is the only way to preserve the ECB's role in a digital economy.