Share this article
Israel Decision on Digital Shekel Won't Occur Before the EU's Call on Digital Euro: Reuters
As of May 2024, 134 countries or jurisdictions, representing 98% of global GDP, were exploring a CBDC.
Updated Jul 10, 2024, 12:08 p.m. Published Jul 10, 2024, 12:06 p.m.
- Israel won't decide on introducing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) before the European Union, a senior official of its central bank told Reuters.
- Neither Israel nor the EU has yet committed to issuing a CBDC.
The Bank of Israel won't decide whether to introduce a central bank digital currency (CBDC) before the European Central Bank does, Deputy Governor Andrew Abir told Reuters.
"We’re all waiting for the first western central bank to pull the trigger, which is almost certainly going to be the ECB. And then you may see a rush of countries going forward with it," Abir said.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
A few weeks ago, Israel's central bank announced the launch of a Digital Shekel Challenge as part of an "action plan for a possible issuance of the digital shekel," to develop uses in the world of payments. It reiterated then that it hadn't decided whether to issue a CBDC, even as it kept up to pace with the research.
As of May, 134 countries or jurisdictions representing 98% of global GDP are exploring a CBDC. Among them, the EU has shown particular interest in developing its own digital currency. Last year, it proposed legislation for the digital currency, even though officials have said the work on a digital euro is not a commitment to issue one.
Abir said whether the public will adopt a digital shekel is uncertain, and the bank is conducting a behavioral study on the subject. He said that one has to have "a good set of use cases." But in a nation where two large banks dominate more than 60% of the market, the main incentive is to create a "level playing field for payment providers and allow them to compete with the banks"
Read More: Israel to Start Digital Shekel Challenge to Develop Payment Use Cases
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
U.S. Senate's Crypto Market Structure Bill Gets Messy as Calendar Weighs Down
The White House has shut down proposals, and lawmakers are circulating the Democrats' asks in what had been a close negotiation, revealing 11th-hour pressure.
What to know:
- Democrats shared a response to Republicans outlining their continuing priorities for a crypto market structure bill, which they said was intended to "reach an agreement and proceed towards a mark-up."
- The document laid out concerns with financial stability, market integrity and public officials' ability to trade and profit off of crypto, echoing concerns laid out in a framework Democrats shared in September.
- The Senate is running out of time in the Congressional calendar to hold a markup hearing — a key step toward progressing the bill — before 2025 ends.
Top Stories
