to enable us to respond swiftly if the situation changes in the future. status of the project : latest developments and next steps indeed, this was the rationale behind the ecb governing council's decision to launch the digital euro project two years ago, thus starting the investigation phase. as i said here at the time, the purpose of this phase was to somehow bring down to earth the theoretical and practical analyses that had already been carried out of the possibilities that a digital euro could offer, the risks it could pose and the ways to mitigate them. thus, the investigation phase focused on exploring various design options and agreeing on the main functionalities and the distribution model. based on this work, it has been concluded that it would be feasible to design a digital euro that is accessible to, and meets the needs of, all euro area citizens and businesses, without introducing significant distortions in the financial system or in monetary policy implementation. in view of these conclusions, the ecb governing council has agreed to proceed to the next phase of the project : the preparation phase. before explaining what the preparation phase entails, allow me to describe what a digital euro would be like. broadly speaking, a digital euro would be designed as a digital form of cash that could be used for payments throughout the euro area. it would be widely accessible, free of charge for basic services ( such as opening an account, making payments and managing payment instruments ) and usable with a mobile or card. it could also be used for the most frequent payments ( person - to - person, at the point of sale, in e - commerce and in transactions with government bodies ) and would include an offline mode, enabling transactions to be carried out without an internet connection and offering a high level of privacy. payments would be settled instantly, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and automatic top - up and withdrawal functionalities would be offered, making it easier to control spending. but, going beyond this broad picture, today i would like to focus specifically on those features that, as i understand, could be of most interest to you owing to their potential impact on financial institutions. in this respect, i should point out that the eurosystem envisions that the digital euro will be distributed by regulated payment service providers. as you may imagine, institutions are much better placed than central banks when it comes to managing the relationships with their customers. as such, they are better positioned to place them in the ecosystem, provide the payment instruments

the role of central bank money as an anchor for the stability of the monetary system as a whole. essential for financial stability, this role is based on the central bank's unique ability to guarantee the convertibility of private money into central bank money in any situation. also, central bank money is the sole means of payment permitting transactions to be 1 / 8 bis - central bankers'speeches carried out and debts settled in any part of the euro area. both these factors lie at the heart of the security and reliability of the financial and monetary system and the public's confidence therein. this balance between private money and central bank money would be affected if the use of cash were to diminish to the point of its relegation to a relatively minor role. indeed, there might be an adverse impact on public trust in the currency and in the stability of the financial system. currently, in terms of numbers of transactions, cash remains the means of payment that is used most in the euro area for purchases at physical points of sale and person - toperson payments. however, as in the case of other daily activities, the public's preference for digital means of payment has been constantly increasing in recent years. highly revealing in this respect are the results of the latest ecb study on the payment attitudes of consumers in the euro area. according to this study, 55 % of citizens say they prefer to use cards and other electronic means of payment for their purchases at physical points of sale. and this preference is confirmed by the evidence. the percentage of purchases paid for in cash has been declining in recent years and, especially between 2019 and 2022, during the pandemic. in this period, the use of cash at the point of sale fell by 13 percentage points ( pp ), from 72 % of all transactions in 2019 to 59 % in 2022. this decrease is also observed in the case of person - to - person payments, for which the use of cash also fell by 13 pp. in this case, however, the share of cash generally remains high and in 2022 stood at 73 % on average. as you can imagine, there are marked cross - country differences, but the decline in the use of cash is a widespread reality. that said, the study mentioned also indicates that 60 % of the population consider having the option to pay with cash to be very or fairly important. in my opinion, this figure goes to highlight the importance of continuing to guarantee access to central bank money, in its