Europe just took another major step toward financial sovereignty. The European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee has approved the digital euro — a sovereign ECB-backed currency designed to reduce dependence on American-owned payment infrastructure.

💶 The digital euro would allow eurozone citizens to hold, send, and receive central bank money through dedicated wallets.
💳 Visa and Mastercard currently account for 61% of euro-area card payments and nearly all cross-border card transactions.
🇪🇺 The goal is not to ban American payment companies, but to ensure Europe has a sovereign alternative.
🔐 Offline digital euro payments are designed to work more like cash, with stronger privacy protections than existing digital payments.
🏦 Commercial banks will distribute wallets, but the ECB will provide the underlying infrastructure.
🌍 The digital euro joins Wero and ECB repo lines as part of Europe’s emerging payment sovereignty stack.
⚠️ The prediction: Visa and Mastercard’s share of European payments falls below 50% within five years of launch.