Overview
- The ECB announced on Tuesday that it selected 36 payment service providers from more than 50 applicants to join a 12-month beta pilot of the digital euro.
- The pilot will run in the second half of 2027 across the ECB and 19 national central banks using a beta token that will not have legal tender status while testing person-to-person, merchant, point-of-sale, e-commerce and offline payments.
- Selected participants include major banks and fintechs such as Deutsche Bank, UniCredit, Revolut, Adyen, SumUp and Worldline and were chosen to give a mix of business models and geographic coverage.
- EU lawmakers are negotiating the legal framework with a target to finalise rules by year-end 2026 and the ECB says any move to issue a digital euro in 2029 will also require a separate Governing Council decision.
- Key unresolved issues that the pilot and legislative talks must address include privacy protections, per-person holding limits and non-interest rules meant to limit bank deposit outflows and protect financial stability.