European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde declared the digital euro a symbol of European unity and stated its planned launch is a priority. The move aims to enable online payments within the EU using the digital currency. However, this initiative has drawn significant criticism from cryptocurrency experts and lawmakers. The ECB’s decision follows Thursday’s announcement that it will begin developing technical infrastructure for the digital euro in preparation for its potential rollout as early as 2029. The project is contingent upon EU legislation permitting the issuance of a CBDC. Opposition to this initiative has come primarily from cryptocurrency advocates and legal proposals are currently circulating to ban CBDCs in favor of Bitcoin, which they see as a more neutral option, especially given its decentralized nature and supply-cap limitations.