Dr Aurelia Philine Birne is a German-qualified lawyer and postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for the Law of Digitalisation (IRDi) at the University of Marburg, Germany. She also serves as an editor of “Recht Digital”, a German law journal focused on topics related to digitalization. Her research focuses on general private law, payment services, and financial services law, with a particular focus on (digital) means of payment and crypto-assets. Dr. Birne has been a visiting researcher at New York University School of Law, the City University of New York, and the University of Bern in Switzerland. In addition to her academic work, she is a prospective LL.M.-candidate at the University of Cambridge, UK, as a member of the class of 2025/2026.
Research Project
The Monetary Law of CBDCs
CBDCs have been a central issue in monetary policy discussions for several years. Central banks around the world have considered the issuance of CBDCs with end-user access and, in some cases, have already launched concrete pilot projects. Within the European Union, the European Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on the establishment of a digital euro (COM(2023) 369) has intensified the debate—also from a legal perspective—on the issuance of a euro-denominated retail CBDC and has significantly increased the likelihood of a digital euro being introduced. However, the implementation of a CBDC raises legal questions regarding its legal nature, the competence of the Central Bank to issue a sovereign digital currency, and its liabilities as the issuing authority. Additionally, these questions are closely linked to the private-law relationships between users and digital currency units and the role of payment service providers as intermediaries. The legal classification of CBDCs is also of utmost importance for (cross-border) transactions.
