France: Central bank could issue digital currency after corporation battle-testing

France’s central bank is unlikely to issue its own digital currency in the near future, according to Pauline Adam Kalfon, a blockchain and financial services partner at PwC.

It may not be the best entity to drive forward such a digital currency project, which would sit within the prerogatives of the European Central Bank, Kalfon added. “Having said this, Banque de France could seize technological leadership by following European Central Bank guidance. It is clear that a European-level project would be very complex and challenging governance-wise, requiring alignment and the political consensus of all relevant stakeholders from each member state,” she told Forbes.

An interesting option would be to leave the tokenization of fiat currencies to corporations such as Facebook and JPMorgan. “This would reduce the likelihood of potentially negative consequences on the economy arising from any central bank issuing a digital currency. Only then could central banks make a move once digital currencies have been battle-tested by corporations,” Kalfon argued.