Digital euro Financial News

The European Commission announced on June 28 that it has proposed a legislative plan for a digital euro, aiming to make it a widely accepted and easily accessible form of payment.

The digital euro holds something in store for every stakeholder, Governor of the Banque de France François Villeroy de Galhau told commercial bankers on June 22. Disintermediation is not in the works, he said at the Global Official Institutions Conference hosted by French multinational bank BNP Paribas.

The European Union was nearing the originally scheduled date for implementing the legislation required for a digital euro, slated for June 28th, just over a week from today, June 20th. 

Slovakia will codify the right to use cash as a method of payment after a vote to amend the nation’s constitution passed in parliament on June 15. 

A proposed digital euro would have to be usable offline from day one to safeguard privacy, according to a draft law obtained by CoinDesk. 

While a final decision on issuing a digital euro has yet to be made, the ECB has been busy investigating options ahead of a potential launch, which would come in 2026 at the earliest.Last year, the central bank began working with five companies - Nexi, CaixaBank, Amazon, Worldline and EPI - to provide front-end prototypes to test different payment use cases.Nexi was chosen for the point-of-sale payments initiated by the payee use case. Updating on the effort, it says that it integration with the existing payment landscape is possible and that a digital euro would work both online and offline, using independent designs, thus increasing the resilience. Roberto Catanzaro, chief business officer, merchant solutions, Nexi, says: "An engaging user and merchant experience is paramount to ensure wide adoption of the digital euro and we have brought our best expertise in both acceptance and mobile payments technologies to set a clear way forward."

The European Union’s executive branch will unveil plans for a digital euro that would require the European Central Bank to set limits on its use, according to a report from Bloomberg News. 

As part of the investigation phase of its digital euro project, the European Central Bank (ECB), which serves as the European Union’s central bank, has released two reports on the institution’s market research and prototyping exercise. 

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While a final decision on issuing a digital euro has yet to be made, the ECB has been busy investigating options ahead of a potential launch, which would come in 2026 at the earliest. Last year, the central bank began working with five companies - Nexi, CaixaBank, Amazon, Worldline and EPI - to provide front-end prototypes to test different payment use cases. Nexi was chosen for the point-of-sale payments initiated by the payee use case. Updating on the effort, it says that it integration with the existing payment landscape is possible and that a digital euro would work both online and offline, using independent designs, thus increasing the resilience. Roberto Catanzaro, chief business officer, merchant solutions, Nexi, says: "An engaging user and merchant experience is paramount to ensure wide adoption of the digital euro and we have brought our best expertise in both acceptance and mobile payments technologies to set a clear way forward."

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published a summary of the results of its digital euro central bank digital currency prototyping exercise. The exercise investigated offline use of a simulated digital euro and four other instances of interoperability with existing payments systems.

The ECB laid out its current thinking on the digital euro in a progress report in April. Along with the report the ECB also published focus group findings which found most participants were interested in trying some of the digital wallet features presented.

While a final decision on issuing a digital euro has yet to be made, the European Central Bank has been busy investigating options ahead of a potential launch, which would come in 2026 at the earliest. Meanwhile, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs has called in the Economic Governance and EMU Scrutiny Unit to carry out its own assessment.

While a final decision on issuing a digital euro has yet to be made, the European Central Bank has been busy investigating options ahead of a potential launch, which would come in 2026 at the earliest. Meanwhile, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs has called in the Economic Governance and EMU Scrutiny Unit to carry out its own assessment.

In its initial releases, a digital euro would be accessible to euro area residents, merchants and governments. Non-resident euro area citizens might also have access, provided that they held an account with a euro area-based payment services provider.

As the various stakeholders within the European Union continue to research the potential of a single central bank digital currency (CBDC), the representatives of both private and public banking institutions share their opinion on the digital euro. 

As Europe moves seemingly inevitably towards the creation of a digital euro, Panetta has been appearing at the European Parliament's committee on economic and monetary affairs to discuss the project. Panetta says that Europeans see the ability to pay anywhere as the most important feature of a potential digital euro. He says that to ensure this, a digital euro could be given legal tender status in the same way that bank notes are. "If introduced, the digital euro would be a public good, and Europeans would expect to be able to access and use it easily, anywhere in the euro area. So, it would be more beneficial and convenient for all users if merchants that accept digital payments were obliged to accept the digital euro as legal tender," says Panetta. The move would have other benefits, making European payments more resilient, enhancing competition and reducing costs, he suggests. On the other side of the coin, access, Panetta says that individuals and merchants will expect to be able to obtain digital euro at their banks, just like they do today with cash. "It should be simple for people to start using the digital euro, and there should be no need to change bank in order to do so," he says. However, in the face of mounting scepticism among EU nations, Panetta accepts that political opposition could effectively sidetrack or even derail the project. "Throughout the next project phase, which is expected to be launched later this year, we will accommodate any necessary adjustments to the design of the digital euro that may emerge from legislative deliberations," he told MEPs. "The possible decision by the Governing Council to issue a digital euro would be taken only after the legislative act has been adopted."

In its initial releases, a digital euro would be accessible to euro area residents, merchants and governments. Non-resident euro area citizens might also have access, provided that they held an account with a euro area-based payment services provider.

A new central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Europe would be designed with privacy in mind, although it would never be as private as cash is, according to a European Central Bank (ECB) official.

Panetta says that Europeans see the ability to pay anywhere as the most important feature of a potential digital euro.He says that to ensure this, a digital euro could be given legal tender status in the same way that bank notes are. "If introduced, the digital euro would be a public good, and Europeans would expect to be able to access and use it easily, anywhere in the euro area.

The European Central Bank (ECB) released its third progress report on digital euro design on April 24. This time the bank looked at access and distribution options that have been endorsed by the ECB’s Governing Council.