The main economist of the European Central Bank (ECB), Philip Lane, said Europe needs a digital euro to foal a foothold that dollar -bonded stablecoins and US electronic payment systems win in the region’s financial system.

The incidence of electronic payments provided by large tech companies, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal, “Europe exposes to the risks of financial pressure and coercion,” Lane said, according to the text of a speech at University College, Cork in Ireland on Thursday.

“The digital euro would provide a secure, universally accepted digital payment option under European governance, reducing the dependence on foreign providers,” Lane said. “The availability of the digital euro would also limit the likelihood of stableecoins for foreign currencies gaining a foothold as an exchange medium in the euro area.”

Lane pointed out that 99% of the stablecoin market consists of tokens attached to the US dollar. It raises the possibility of dollar stableecoins getting traction II euro area and the payment systems are “directly or indirectly rooted by the dollar rather than the euro.”

ECB, like central banks in other developed economies around the world, is investigating the possibility of introducing a central bank’s digital currency (CBDC). Tackling the competition designated by stableecoins and corporate-run Payment services is often among the mentioned reasons to do so.

The case for a CBDC may be larger, especially for the ECB, considering the euro zone includes more countries, Lane said. Each currency is used over 20 EU member countries, and the euro zone is missing a total payment system due to different older standards from country to country.

“The digital euro provides a unique opportunity to overcome the sustained fragmentation in retail payment systems throughout the euro area,” he said.