Even the available anecdotal hints attribute only a relatively minor role to illicit activity compared to the overall honest use of cash as a private means of payment. Moreover, for all the buzz currently surrounding new payment technologies, it is worth noting that cash, despite having been around for millennia, still remains popular.
The Eurosystem contributed to this endeavour by proposing a set of recommendations on the appropriate framework for the granting of government guarantees. These included recommendations on overarching objectives as well as on parameters of the pricing system.