The Concorde foundation warns against the Libra project, launched by Facebook, which "is capable of becoming a private central bank" and China's crypto-yuan, "with global ambitions".

The European and French public authorities must accelerate the creation of a "digital euro" so as not to fall behind the Chinese yuan or Facebook's private currency project, the Concorde foundation estimated on Monday, December 7. This liberal-inspired think tank expressed itself in the context of a report on blockchain technology, in English "blockchain", written in collaboration with the public bank Bpifrance and Havas Blockchain.

The "blockchain" is a computer protocol, the best known form of which is bitcoin , the cryptoasset which has just returned to its record values after a crash at the end of 2017. It makes it possible to create tamper-proof computer objects, which can be exchanged through all over the world via the internet. Based on this technology, "the European Central Bank (ECB) must accelerate the establishment of a digital euro in a context where Libra", the cryptocurrency project launched by Facebook "is capable of becoming a central bank private, and where China is launching a crypto-yuan with global ambitions,” says the foundation.

It recommends the creation of a “central bank digital currency intended for wholesale payments” (interbank payments and payment of large amounts), in particular to allow the lowering of transaction costs. She also supports the creation of a "retail central bank digital currency" , which everyone could hold and use for their everyday payments. This electronic euro could also be "programmable", thanks to the properties of the blockchain: for example, the ECB could issue electronic euros to be used at a given time and place, to help a population in difficulty.

The Concorde Foundation also recalls in its report the many projects for the use of the blockchain outside of cryptocurrencies. The blockchain is thus experienced in industry (agri-food, luxury, health, automotive, etc.) to "trace" products using a digital certificate accompanying the product from producer to consumer. It is also experienced in simplifying and streamlining the exchange of financial securities, energy production certificates, or administrative certificates.

To accelerate these experiments deemed promising, the report suggests that Europe "strengthen the financing" of blockchain projects , to bring themselves up to the level of China and the United States, whose investment funds have already bet 20 times more. on this technology. Blockchain technology should be listed by name in the portfolio of an EU commissioner, the report also claims.