The European Central Bank said it expects by this summer to present the standards for a possible digital euro

Summary

• ECB plans to publish digital euro standards by summer to help payment firms prepare early.
• The central bank expects pilot testing in 2027 and possible issuance readiness around 2029 ahead.
• Cipollone said the digital euro would support payments without replacing cash or bank deposits directly.

The move would give payment firms, banks, and merchants time to prepare their systems before any final launch decision. ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone told European Union lawmakers that the central bank plans to announce the European standards for a potential digital euro by this summer. He said the step would help payment providers and merchants start preparing their systems early.

Cipollone said the ECB wants market participants to begin adding those standards to payment terminals and other tools as soon as possible. He said finalizing the rulebook would allow new terminals and payment apps to ship with the needed rails already built in.

Payment firms would prepare before legal approval

The ECB expects EU legislation for the digital euro to be in place in 2026. Cipollone said early technical preparation would give European companies more time to adjust before any rollout moves forward.

He told lawmakers that the digital euro pilot will run for 12 months from the second half of 2027. The test will cover person-to-person payments and point-of-sale use in a controlled setting. The ECB wants to be technically ready for a possible issuance around 2029 if lawmakers approve the legal framework.

In addition, earlier ECB analysis said 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% of banks’ yearly information technology maintenance spending.

Cipollone said those costs should be weighed against the longer-term goal of keeping more merchant fees inside Europe and expanding European payment schemes. He said the digital euro would serve as public payment infrastructure that private intermediaries, such as banks and payment service providers, would use to offer wallets and related services.

ECB frames digital euro as support for Europe’s payment system

Cipollone said the digital euro would complement cash and bank deposits rather than replace them. He also said the ECB is building accessibility features into the reference app from the start, including voice commands and large-font displays.

He added that the ECB wants central bank money to remain the “anchor” for future wholesale markets. He pointed to the Pontes project, which tests settlement for tokenized securities in central bank money across different distributed ledger platforms, and to the Appia roadmap for a tokenized European financial system

In a separate speech on Monday, he said tokenized central bank money could support settlement for stablecoins and tokenized deposits.