{"id":530036,"date":"2026-04-14T09:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T09:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/530036\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T09:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T09:30:09","slug":"ecb-enters-next-phase-of-digital-euro-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/530036\/","title":{"rendered":"ECB enters next phase of digital euro development"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0European Central Bank\u00a0(ECB)\u00a0has moved the\u00a0digital euro\u00a0into its next phase, shifting the project from planning to\u00a0technical preparation, with the\u00a0Eurosystem\u00a0aiming to be ready for a\u00a0potential first issuance in 2029, provided the relevant EU legislation is adopted in 2026, according to the\u00a0ECB\u2019s\u00a0latest progress update<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Bank of Greece\u2019s annual report<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A key feature of the proposed digital currency is\u00a0offline use. The ECB says offline payments are designed to offer\u00a0\u201ccash-like privacy levels\u201d,\u00a0with transaction details known only to the payer and the payee, making the digital euro the closest digital equivalent to cash.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The latest stage of the project began after the ECB decided in October 2025 to move to the next phase of the digital euro project.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In this phase, the\u00a0Eurosystem\u00a0is building the\u00a0technical capacity\u00a0needed ahead of any eventual decision to issue, while keeping the work aligned with the legislative process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This phase, covering\u00a0October 2025 to September 2027, focuses on\u00a0technical readiness\u00a0and\u00a0operational preparation.\u00a0It\u00a0centres\u00a0on developing infrastructure and standards, preparing pilot testing and stepping up work with market participants to\u00a0finalise\u00a0the rulebook, with the aim of ensuring that the digital euro can\u00a0operate\u00a0safely and reliably across the euro area if it is eventually launched.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That stage follows the\u00a0earlier\u00a0exploration phase\u00a0and the subsequent\u00a0preparation phase<\/a>. The first focused on assessing the project\u2019s feasibility and defining its key principles, including\u00a0privacy,\u00a0accessibility\u00a0and the position that the digital euro should\u00a0complement cash rather than replace it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second, which ran from\u00a0November 2023 to October 2025, marked the shift from concept work to practical design with banks and other payment service providers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the main\u00a0steps\u00a0in that second phase was the development of the\u00a0draft digital euro rulebook, which sets out a single set of rules,\u00a0standards\u00a0and procedures for digital euro payments across the euro area, as well as the roles and obligations of participants in the wider ecosystem.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ECB\u00a0says\u00a0\u201cthe rulebook is being developed through a collaborative process with market participants and is intended to support\u00a0consistency,\u00a0interoperability\u00a0and\u00a0legal certainty.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The next step is expected to include\u00a0pilot activity.\u00a0According to the ECB, selected payment service providers would test the system\u2019s\u00a0technical,\u00a0functional\u00a0and operational readiness\u00a0in a controlled environment ahead of any formal decision on issuance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the launch is\u00a0not automatic. The ECB has made clear that the final decision on whether to issue the digital euro, and on what date, will only be taken once the regulation\u00a0establishing\u00a0it has been adopted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In its annual report, the\u00a0Bank\u00a0of Greece<\/a>\u00a0says the digital euro matters because it would strengthen\u00a0monetary sovereignty\u00a0in the euro area, improve the\u00a0resilience of European payments\u00a0and offer a\u00a0public alternative to private payment instruments, while also supporting\u00a0innovation\u00a0and\u00a0financial inclusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0European Central Bank\u00a0(ECB)\u00a0has moved the\u00a0digital euro\u00a0into its next phase, shifting the project from planning to\u00a0technical preparation, with the\u00a0Eurosystem\u00a0aiming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-530036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}