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With the European Central Bank, or ECB, set to conclude years of preparation prior to deciding in October on whether to launch a digital euro, the difficulty of striking a balance between individual privacy and the fight against illicit finance has yet to abate. Amid the increasing dominance of mobile payments, cryptocurrencies and now stablecoins in financial services, the EU's foray into launching a central-bank digital currency, or CBDC, began in 2020, with an eye on maintaining economic sovereignty and eliminating the threat to liquidity and stability that excessive reliance on private-sector alternatives could pose. With the digital euro, the...