Columnist Agis Veroutis reports that the European Central Bank advances its digital euro plan while crypto, artificial intelligence, and stablecoins pressure commercial banking.
Writing for Greek financial news portal Capital.gr, Veroutis states that the current monetary system is entering an ending phase that will become clear within the next decade. He explains that three major technological forces threaten to remove commercial banks from financial transactions entirely.
The European Central Bank has already progressed its Central Bank Digital Currency project, known as the digital euro. Veroutis notes that a pilot program is scheduled to begin in 2027, with the Eurosystem aiming for technical readiness toward the end of the decade if the legislative framework is completed on time.
Central Bank Digital Currencies are digital forms of sovereign money issued directly by a central bank rather than a commercial bank. The European Central Bank, based in Frankfurt, Germany, oversees monetary policy for the European Union countries that use the euro currency.
Cryptocurrencies and state control limits
Veroutis explains that cryptocurrencies proved digital value can move directly between individuals without approval from commercial banks, central banks, or other financial intermediaries. He describes this process as disintermediation, which eliminates middlemen without seeking their permission.
Governments retain specific regulatory powers over Bitcoin, including taxing holdings, auditing crypto exchanges, pursuing tax evasion, and regulating corporate users. However, Veroutis notes that state officials cannot request more liquidity because Bitcoin has no chief executive officer.
He adds that public institutions such as the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank lack the authority to create five million additional Bitcoins during economic stress. If significant savings shift to crypto, commercial banks lose deposits, transaction fees, and their core intermediary function.
Cyber threats and artificial intelligence risks
Artificial intelligence poses a distinct threat to financial infrastructure. Veroutis states that while no artificial intelligence currently shuts down Deutsche Bank with a single button press, existing software conducts faster and more complex cyberattacks while discovering system vulnerabilities.
Commercial banks will deploy artificial intelligence for defense, creating a scenario where defensive and offensive algorithms clash while customer deposits remain in the crossfire. Veroutis observes that the eventual emergence of true Artificial General Intelligence creates unprecedented uncertainty for global financial security.
Rising cyber risks increase the appeal of state owned digital monetary infrastructure. Veroutis explains that governments seek sovereign digital networks that operate independently from the information technology systems of private commercial banks.
Corporate stablecoins and commercial bank deposits
Private stablecoins represent an insidious threat to commercial banks because established corporations can issue them without traditional banking licenses. Veroutis uses the example of an international airline with one hundred million customers offering proprietary stablecoins alongside traditional flight miles.
Under such a system, a customer depositing ten thousand euros into an airline stablecoin could receive cheaper tickets, free luggage, cabin upgrades, airport lounge access, hotel bookings, and rental car discounts. Veroutis notes that commercial banks cannot match these non financial incentives.
He also describes corporate ecosystems similar to those operated by Elon Musk, where stablecoins could provide discounts on Tesla vehicles, free charging, cheaper Starlink internet, and household robot privileges. Companies could raise capital directly from millions of consumers to build factories or data centers without paying bank mediation fees.
Commercial banks currently pay low deposit rates, such as 0.2 percent. While companies could theoretically offer higher returns to attract capital, the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation in Europe currently prohibits interest payments on basic regulated stablecoins, protecting commercial bank deposit stability for now.
Disintermediation types and central bank controls
Commercial banks rely on customer deposits, such as fifty thousand euro balances, as cheap funding for loans and assets. Veroutis notes that if deposits migrate toward crypto, stablecoins, and digital euros, banks must replace cheap funds with costlier alternative financing.
During a financial crisis, future depositors will not wait outside physical bank branches. Instead, they can transfer funds directly to the European Central Bank using mobile applications within seconds. Veroutis highlights that the Bank for International Settlements defines gradual deposit outflow as slow disintermediation and sudden crisis driven outflow as fast disintermediation.
To prevent commercial banks from draining completely during crises, the European Central Bank plans holding limits on individual digital euro balances and intends to pay no interest on digital euros. Veroutis describes this strategy as creating a safe digital currency while deliberately limiting its financial attractiveness.
Programmable money and central control debates
Veroutis contrasts digital currencies, describing central bank digital currencies as favored by proponents of central mass control and cryptocurrencies as their nightmare. Commercial banks remain positioned between both forces while fearing that both sides could eventually operate without traditional banking.
The European Central Bank currently states that the digital euro will not be programmable money and that no central authority will dictate allowed spending categories. Veroutis notes that current plans do not include spending geography limits, dietary purchase restrictions, or social credit scores affecting deposit rates based on past payments to questionable firms.
Veroutis cautions that historical precedent shows authorities eventually utilize new control mechanisms. While legal procedures currently freeze private bank accounts, centralized digital systems could theoretically allow authority figures to freeze money itself across entire networks.
He compares centralized digital money risks to a past World Economic Forum hypothetical scenario for 2030, in which citizens own no property or money, live as renters, lack privacy, and remain happy. Veroutis notes this scenario was created by an official contributor rather than official policy, adding that decentralized cryptocurrencies disrupt such central control models.
Crisis simulation and future economic policy
Veroutis presents a hypothetical scenario in which a state backed hacker group uses advanced artificial intelligence to exploit banking flaws overnight, zeroing European electronic bank balances to technical error messages.
In this hypothetical crisis, the European Central Bank president announces that real balances are stored safely in central archives and offers immediate restoration into digital euros. The user receives a mobile notification displaying a balance of thirty-seven thousand four hundred twenty-six euros and eighteen cents in digital euros, requiring a single accept button press.
Veroutis emphasizes in a disclaimer that social control features, purchasing limits, Chinese style social credit scores, and mass bank zeroing scenarios are fictional concepts rather than official digital euro policies. He concludes by noting that future column articles will analyze how digital euros could serve as a necessary tool for Keynesian Universal Basic Income if artificial intelligence causes widespread job displacement.
