Should we count on governments to innovate?
The ECB could launch a euro stablecoin tomorrow.
No joke.
They could take the open-source, battle-tested code used by Tether or Circle, adapt it, and deploy it on Ethereum for a few euros.
Want it more custom?
There are already smart contracts out there with tools for QE, asset freezing, transaction limits, stimulus distribution, and compliance baked in.
They could even run a “DEX vampire attack” to mop up private stablecoin liquidity and replace it with a public digital euro; fast, clean, effective.
Instead?
They’ve budgeted €432 million + €1.3 billion for a digital euro “research and build” program.
€1.7 billion total.
To put that into perspective:
That’s €5 per eurozone citizen
To “solve” a problem that’s already solved.
A solution that could be live this week.
But hey, maybe innovation was never the point.
Let’s be real:
Institutions like the ECB don’t have a tech problem.
They have a control problem.
Because stablecoins challenge the monopoly over money.
Because people might want transparent, programmable, decentralized assets instead of “official” ones.
Because code doesn’t wait for bureaucrats.
And that’s exactly why they call stablecoins a “threat to our continued existence.”
Not because they don’t work.
But because they do.
We’re not anti-government.
We’re pro-efficiency, pro-transparency, pro-logic.
If the ECB wants to launch a stablecoin, great; just don’t burn €1.7 billion pretending to invent something that already exists.
Let’s innovate faster than institutions can slow us down.
Let’s build in the open. Let’s use what works.
And let’s stay humble but sharp: if you want to shape the future of money, you better know how it’s built.
