PANews reported on June 16th, citing Finance Feeds, that European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned at the ECB meeting that Europe faces the risk of losing its payment sovereignty, with dollar-denominated stablecoins and foreign networks dominating the future financial infrastructure. Lagarde pointed out that Europe lacks its own pan-European card network, international card organizations account for over 60% of European card payments, and 13 of the 21 Eurozone countries no longer have national card schemes. She stated that a digital euro could break this situation, as its legal tender status must be accepted throughout Europe.

Lagarde emphasized that tokenized finance requires central bank money to expand securely, and market participants indicated they would not issue digital assets on a large scale without central bank settlement infrastructure. The European Central Bank is advancing the Pontes and Appia initiatives and establishing connections between TIPS and India's UPI and Southeast Asia's Nexus systems. She warned that if member states develop their own legal frameworks, the fragmentation that technology is currently eroding will reappear at the legal level. This competition has evolved into a geopolitical and sovereignty issue.