European Central Bank (ECB) executive board member Piero Cipollone stated that the digital euro would provide users with the highest level of privacy that current technology allows. This addresses concerns that a central bank digital currency (CBDC) could enable the ECB to monitor spending habits. Cipollone clarified that offline payments would be direct between individuals, with details only visible to the payer and payee, while online payments would not allow the Eurosystem to identify individuals, only the involved banks for anti-money laundering purposes. The interview was conducted on August 10 and published by the ECB on Monday.