Over half of Germans surveyed for the Deutsche Bundesbank said they could generally imagine using a digital euro.
Some 59% of those surveyed said they were open to using it as an additional payments option, the central bank said on June 4.
More than 75% of respondents said privacy was “important or very important” when it comes to the digital currency. Another 72% said it was important for the digital euro to be based on a European infrastructure “so it can function independently of global political events or decisions.”
Only a few respondents were aware that the digital euro would be issued by the Eurosystem of eurozone national central banks, the Bundesbank said. Some 16% of those who heard of the digital euro thought it was a cryptocurrency, while 8% thought it was intended to monitor payment flows.
“The survey shows us that a great deal of information still needs to be provided and that we have set the right priorities, such as privacy protection, in the preparatory work for the new European means of payment,” said Bundesbank president Joachim Nagel.
Only 41% of respondents had already heard, read or seen information about the digital currency. Some 15% of them believed it was a cash replacement, and 12% thought it would mean abolishing cash, the Bundesbank said.
But among those who had not heard of the digital euro, there was still interest in using it, the central bank added.
“As plans currently stand, people will be able to make their first payments with the digital euro in 2028 at the earliest,” said Burkhard Balz, the Bundesbank board member responsible for cash and the digital euro.
The survey spoke to 2,012 people and was conducted by the German firm forsa on behalf of Deutsche Bundesbank.