Overview
- - The European Central Bank, which signed agreements Friday with ECPC, nexo standards and the Berlin Group, will reuse existing technical specs to process digital euro payments.
- - The plan taps ECPC’s CPACE for tap-to-pay NFC, nexo’s ISO 20022 acceptance specs for terminals, and Berlin Group interfaces for account-to-account and card-based flows to avoid custom builds.
- - By building on these rails, the ECB says banks and merchants can adapt current hardware and software, addressing estimates that upgrades could otherwise cost €4–6 billion over four years.
- - The ECB expects to publish complete standards by summer 2026, begin a 12‑month pilot in the second half of 2027, and aim for issuance readiness around 2029 if EU lawmakers pass the needed regulation in 2026.
- - Officials frame the approach as an open, European alternative to global card and wallet networks like Visa, Mastercard and PayPal, with the digital euro designed to complement cash and bank deposits.