Senior European central bankers have reaffirmed their vision for a digital monetary system anchored by traditional financial institutions, while expressing skepticism about the independent role of stablecoins and Bitcoin. Fabio Panetta, Governor of Italy's central bank (Banca d'Italia), stated on Wednesday that both digital commercial bank money and central bank money would continue to anchor the monetary system, with stablecoins playing only a complementary role.
Panetta, speaking to the executive committee of Italy's banking association, emphasized that the stability of stablecoins ultimately depends on their peg to traditional currencies, which limits their ability to function independently. He framed payments and digital finance as a "strategic area" and a core competitive battleground for banks, especially as technology and geopolitics reshape the global economy. He noted that traditional economic variables are increasingly influenced by political decisions rather than pure market forces.
This cautious stance aligns with previous warnings from the Bank of Italy. On September 19, 2025, Vice Director Chiara Scotti highlighted that multi-jurisdiction stablecoins could pose significant legal, operational, and financial stability risks to the EU, advocating for strict regulatory standards.
Simultaneously, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, a debate on trust in digital money unfolded. François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the French central bank, argued that trust in money must come from regulated public institutions, not private crypto issuers. "I trust more independent central banks with a democratic mandate than private issuers of Bitcoin," he stated during a panel titled "Is Tokenization the Future?"
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong countered this view, asserting that trust should be determined by users. He defended Bitcoin as a decentralized protocol with no single issuer, arguing it represents an even greater form of independence than central banks. Armstrong advocated for "healthy competition" between Bitcoin and central banks, calling it the "greatest accountability mechanism on deficit spending." Galhau, while maintaining his position, acknowledged that money has historically been a public-private partnership and suggested tokenization could have a role within a regulated framework.
