[wcoenen]

> And if so, how does that differ from what we have now?

1) One important difference is counterparty risk: the balance of your bank account is not really backed by anything, it is only a liability of the bank. If the bank goes bust then you are left with nothing (except for any amounts covered by government deposit guarantee schemes). This would not be an issue for an account at the ECB because they can't go bust.

On the other hand, the ECB has already said that they would put limits in place to avoid bank runs where everybody converts their commercial bank deposits into digital euro.

2) Another difference would be that moving deposits between different banks requires clearing and settlement between those banks, which slows everything down. Digital euros could in principle be transferred directly.

On the other hand, the ECB has mentioned that digital euro transactions might still be handled by banks, and that there might still be some form of settlement.

3) A digital euro account might give you direct exposure to the ECB policy interest rates. (Unfortunately the deposit interest rate is currently negative.)

[neilwilson]

Digital euro would have to be handled by the national central banks to avoid pooling. The ECB is a bit different as it has another level of hierarchy in the banking system.