Amazon Is Fiercely Criticized For Its Role In Helping The ECB Develop CBDC

An ECB executive is trying to defend the decision to make Amazon a partner to develop the national digital currency.

During a quarterly meeting updating the progress of the digital euro rollout, members of the European Parliament criticized the European Central Bank’s (ECB) decision to include Amazon as a partner to build a CBDC pilot.

The main concern that MPs questioned the Central Bank was Amazon’s tax and social policy, in particular the alleged breach of EU data protection regulations which resulted in a record fine of 846 million euros from regulators last year, though Amazon appealed later.

Fabio Panetta, a member of the ECB’s executive board, tried to assuage these concerns, noting that Amazon will not be present at the next stages. He also said the CBDC pilot is benefiting from Amazon’s expertise in payment interface design, and they don’t even claim to be paid for taking on this responsibility.

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, a moderate politician was enraged:

“We know that Amazon wants to be paid with data.”

Other members of the panel shared Yon-Courtin’s concern. Jonás Fernández, an MEP from a left-leaning party, said:

“Honestly, I am now more worried than before.” 

Amazon is one of five names chosen by the ECB to help them develop a pilot CBDC – or a digital currency issued by the Central Bank and is seen as an effective alternative to current cash.

The prototype design phase is set to end in March 2023, and a decision on whether to proceed further with the digital euro project might be made in October 2023.

Panetta visited to address the necessity for collaboration between the commercial and governmental sectors on the euro-CBDC. He stated that the ECB’s goal is to emulate “cash-like” privacy characteristics for low-value transactions.

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