Central Bank Digital Currencies and vulnerable consumers: risks and opportunities for financial inclusion and access to credit.

The Chapter analyses the project for the adoption of a digital euro and its potential impact in terms of financial inclusion. After examining the reasons underlying the advancement of projects on CBDCs, and the one on the digital euro more specifically, the Chapter focuses on the relation between vulnerable users, who risk financial exclusion, and digital means of payment such as CBDCs. Specific measures to counter the risks of financial exclusion, as outlined in the projects and Proposal for a Regulation on the establishment of a digital euro, are then examined, along with some considerations on potential implications of the European CBDC on access to credit.