Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, is said to be thinking of leaving the bank early, just as the EU is entering a vital phase for the digital euro.
The Financial Times said that European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde is thinking about departing before her eight-year tenure finishes in October 2027. They got this information from someone who knows her well.
The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Lagarde, who became president in November 2019, is thinking of leaving office before the presidential election in France in April 2027 so that outgoing President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz may agree on a replacement.
Digital euro and MiCA oversight at a critical stage
The ECB is in charge of digital euros and stablecoins during the MiCA period. The European Central Bank (ECB) has been working on a digital euro and has frequently stressed the necessity to regulate the dangers of privately issued digital money, such as stablecoins, inside the new European Union Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) system.
Officials from the European Central Bank have said that stablecoins that grow too quickly could be bad for the euro area’s financial stability and monetary policy, even with MiCA’s protections in place. They have also called for a strong market for well-regulated euro-denominated stablecoins that can compete with dollar tokens.
Lagarde has been very open about her dislike for Bitcoin (BTC $67,501) and other cryptocurrencies. In a 2022 TV interview, she said that crypto is “worth nothing” and has no underlying assets. She said the same thing again in November 2025, when BTC was close to all-time highs.
If there is a change at the top of the ECB, it might affect how the bank talks about and prioritizes matters like the digital euro, stablecoin oversight, and crypto-related payment arrangements, even though the EU sets the overall regulatory direction.
Possible successors and their crypto stance
The FT asked economists in December who they thought would be the best candidates to replace Lagarde. They named Spain’s former Central Bank Governor Pablo Hernández de Cos and his Dutch counterpart, Klaas Knot, as the top two. They also considered ECB Executive Board Member Isabel Schnabel and Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel as potential candidates.
All four have been careful with crypto. Hernández de Cos has labelled cryptocurrencies and stablecoins a threat to financial stability that needs significant regulation and oversight in the past. Knot has also called for a strong worldwide regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.
Nagel has said that the demand for a digital euro is related to protecting Europe’s monetary and financial independence. He has also dubbed Bitcoin a “digital tulip” that is “anything but transparent” and warned against using it as a reserve asset.
Schnabel has called Bitcoin a “speculative asset without any recognizable fundamental value” in the past.
Legislative timeline for the digital euro
EU parliamentarians still need to give the digital euro project the go-ahead. The ECB has moved on to the next level of technical preparation and is working with other organisations to make sure that everyone can access the digital euros.
There were rumours that Lagarde might go early, but ECB executive board member Piero Cipollone said in a speech on February 18 that EU co-legislators were likely to pass the digital euro rule in 2026.
It would allow for a 12-month test in a controlled Eurosystem environment commencing in the second half of 2027, with real-world transactions and a small group of payment service providers, merchants, and Eurosystem officials.
The Eurosystem wants to be ready for the possible first issuance of the digital euro in 2029, as long as the legislative process stays on track.