In addition, any potential DBM solution needs be assessed against some high level principles, including: (1) technological safety, (2) efficiency, (3) technological neutrality and (4) freedom of choice for users of means of payments. The different options have potential impacts – both positive and negative – that need to be studied and considered carefully.
Only when the best way of designing DBM has been identified, can it be decided if DBM for non-banks should be introduced at all. The most important question for the ECB is whether introducing DBM would affect our ability to honour our mandate. Adopting untried technology that ultimately proves unreliable could seriously endanger public trust in the currency and in the central bank.