Opinion

Mairead McGuinness: A digital euro will be the virtual equivalent of cash in your pocket

Covid altered our economies and accelerated the shift to online transactions and now we must reassess our relationship with money

People want to have the option of using cash, card or various digital options for their transactions

Covid-19 changed our society and economy. When it comes to banking and finances, lockdowns accelerated an existing trend of transactions moving online, from shopping to paying bills. Describing anything digital can be difficult because digital is largely invisible and intangible. Yet we have put our faith in digitalisation and in digital finance in particular.

We used less cash during the pandemic because physical transactions just couldn’t happen. The figures show we are still using cash ...