The European Central Bank (ECB) said it plans to announce the standards for a potential digital euro by summer, giving banks, payment firms, and merchants time to prepare their systems before any final launch decision.
ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone told European Union lawmakers on Tuesday that the rulebook would help market participants start building the needed rails into payment terminals, apps, and related tools. The move forms part of the ECB’s wider preparation work as the European Union continues to review the legal framework for the project.
ECB sets timeline for digital euro standards
Piero Cipollone said the ECB expects to present the European standards for a possible digital euro by summer — keeping the exact timeline undisclosed. He told lawmakers that the standards would help payment providers and merchants prepare early, even before any formal decision on issuance.
The ECB wants market participants to start embedding those standards into payment terminals and other solutions as soon as they become available. The approach is intended to allow new terminals and payment apps to enter the market with the required rails already built in.
As per Cipollone, the ECB expects EU legislation for the digital euro to be in place in 2026. He explained that early technical preparation would give European companies more time to adjust once the legal framework is approved.
He also said the digital euro would not be a direct retail product from the ECB. Instead, private intermediaries such as banks and payment service providers would offer wallets and related services to users through a public payments infrastructure built by the central bank.
Pilot phase aims to test payments in real settings
The ECB’s pilot for the digital euro will run for 12 months from the second half of 2027, according to Cipollone. The pilot will test person-to-person and point-of-sale payments in a controlled environment as part of the ECB’s effort to be technically ready for possible issuance around 2029.
The central bank opened a call for expressions of interest earlier in March for licensed payment service providers that want to join the pilot. The ECB said it will assess applications using eligibility rules and weighted evaluation criteria.
Cipollone said selected providers will be notified in June. Development work is expected to begin in the third quarter so participants can prepare for the pilot launch in the second half of 2027.
The ECB said the exercise will test planned digital euro features both online and offline. It will take place through a mix of activities online and at the premises of Eurosystem central banks, with selected merchants such as cafeterias, restaurants, and e-commerce providers taking part.
The central bank described the pilot as a practical step to test the infrastructure in real-life conditions and gather structured feedback saying, “This step is crucial to test the infrastructure we are developing and validate it in real-life conditions.”
The ECB also said pilot participants would gain direct experience with the digital euro ecosystem. Their feedback will help shape the final technical specifications before any broader rollout.
ECB says costs must be weighed against wider goals
Earlier ECB analysis estimated that a digital euro could cost EU banks between 4 billion euros and 6 billion euros over four years. Reuters reported in February that the ECB viewed that amount as about 3 percent of banks’ annual information technology maintenance budgets.
Cipollone said those costs should be viewed against the longer-term goals of the project. He pointed to the aim of keeping more merchant fees inside Europe and supporting the growth of European payment schemes.
He noted that the digital euro is designed to reduce dependence on international card networks by providing pan-European payment rails. Under that model, co-badged cards and bank wallets could switch between domestic payment schemes and the digital euro across the euro area.
Cipollone also repeated that the digital euro is meant to complement cash and bank deposits, not replace them. He said accessibility features are being built into the reference app design from the start, including voice commands and large-font displays.
Elsewhere, the Council of the European Union already supported giving the digital euro both online and offline functionality, as we reported in Dec. That backing followed earlier ECB work that argued both options would help the digital currency work in more settings and reach a wider group of users.
In October last year, the ECB also signed framework agreements with seven technology providers to support components of a potential digital euro. Those agreements do not involve payments at this stage, but they form part of the central bank’s preparation phase for the project.
Broader digital euro plan links with tokenized finance work
The ECB wants central bank money to remain the anchor for future wholesale financial markets. Cipollone has pointed to the Pontes project, which tests the settlement of tokenized securities in central bank money across different distributed ledger technology platforms.
He also referred to the Appia roadmap, which focuses on building a tokenized European financial ecosystem. These efforts show that the ECB is not treating the digital euro as a standalone project, but as part of a broader shift in payments and settlement infrastructure.
In a separate speech on Monday, Cipollone explained how tokenized central bank money could act as the settlement asset for stablecoins and tokenized deposits. That speech connected the retail digital euro work with the ECB’s wider interest in tokenized financial markets.
The ECB said it wants all payment service providers to benefit from the pilot results, whether they join the exercise or not. It has already launched a dedicated web page with technical documents and answers to questions from providers, and it said it will continue updating that material as preparations move forward.