European Central Bank - eurosystem
European Central Bank - eurosystem
Search
Search Options
Home Media Explainers Research & Publications Statistics Monetary Policy The €uro Payments & Markets Careers
Suggestions
Sort by

FAQs on the digital euro

Updated on 30 October 2025

Purpose and benefits of the digital euro

Implementation and functionality

Progress and stakeholders

Impact and considerations

Q1. Why does Europe need the digital euro?

In a world where digital payments are rapidly becoming the norm, the use of cash is declining and the shift towards online shopping is accelerating. The digital euro would be a digital form of cash, giving consumers access to central bank money in digital form, complementing banknotes and coins.

The digital euro would make people’s lives easier by providing something that does not currently exist: a digital means of payment universally accepted throughout the euro area, for payments in shops, online or from person to person. Like cash, the digital euro would be accessible, free to use when making or receiving payments, and have legal tender status.

Moreover, the digital euro would preserve the monetary sovereignty of the euro area by boosting the efficiency of the European payments ecosystem as a whole, fostering innovation and increasing its resilience to cyberattacks and technical disruptions.

Further information on why we need a digital euro.

Q2. How could the digital euro boost Europe’s strategic autonomy?

The digital euro would offer a pan-European payment solution, available throughout the euro area, under European governance and operated by European providers.

Digital payments in the euro area remain fragmented, differing by country and by use case. More than half of all national markets in the euro area do not have national digital payment solutions for payments in shops, and those that do exist mainly cater only to national markets and specific use cases. This means consumers have to rely on a small number of non-European companies that dominate the market. The digital euro would help reduce Europe’s dependence on non-European payment service providers, and offer people the choice of using European solutions.

Through open standards and by providing a public infrastructure for digital payments, the digital euro could enable providers to easily scale up to pan-European solutions, thereby making the European payments landscape more competitive and innovative.

Overall, the digital euro could turn Europe into a global frontrunner in digital finance, where innovation serves the public good.

Q3. Why would people want to use the digital euro?

The digital euro would be a payment solution for every occasion, for use anytime and anywhere in the euro area – just like cash, but ready for the digital age. It would be a universally accepted digital means of payment that consumers could use free of charge in shops, online or from person to person. It would give people the option to pay digitally, while still using a public means of payment. And it would be available both online and offline.

The digital euro would be designed to provide the highest level of security and privacy, in compliance with the rigorous standards of the European Union, which has the strongest security and privacy laws in the world.

The Eurosystem would not identify people based on their payments. Moreover, personal transaction details from offline digital euro payments would be known only to the payer and the payee.

The digital euro would be safe and, as a public good, guarantee access for all consumers, no matter where they live or their level of digital or financial skills. The digital euro would accommodate the needs of people with disabilities and those with no access to a bank account, ensuring that no one is left behind.

To ensure the digital euro would be usable and accessible throughout the euro area, the proposed digital euro Regulation presented by the European Commission foresees mandatory acceptance by any merchant who accepts digital payments, and mandatory distribution by banks to their customers.

Q4. Would the digital euro replace cash?

No. The digital euro would complement cash, not replace it. The digital euro would exist alongside cash in response to people’s growing preference to pay digitally in a fast and secure way. Cash would continue to be legal tender, and it would remain in co-existence with the digital euro and any private electronic means of payment currently in use.

The ongoing euro banknote redesign, with improved security features, demonstrates that the ECB is committed to the future of cash. The ECB welcomes the European Commission’s Single Currency Package, which preserves people’s freedom of choice between cash and digital euro when paying with central bank money.

Learn more about the Eurosystem cash strategy and the banknote redesign process on the future banknotes page on the ECB’s website.

Q5. What value would the digital euro offer merchants?

The digital euro would be a pan-European solution allowing merchants to market their products and services to customers all over Europe with a seamless and consistent payment experience. It would decrease dependence on non-European payment solutions by offering a European alternative, putting merchants in a stronger position to negotiate conditions with payment solution providers, thereby reducing their own costs.

In developing the digital euro, the ECB is working closely with merchants and their representatives. The design of the digital euro takes into account what merchants find important, such as seamless integration with existing checkout systems, ease of use and payment resilience. The digital euro would also allow merchants to receive payments instantly without additional costs, even without an internet connection.

Learn more about our engagement with merchants in the fit of the digital euro in the payment ecosystem report and our user research with small merchants.

Q6. What value would the digital euro offer payment service providers?

Supervised payment service providers (PSPs), such as banks, would play a key role in distributing the digital euro. They would act as the main point of contact for individuals, merchants and businesses for all digital euro-related matters and would perform all end-user services.

The digital euro could also provide additional business opportunities for PSPs, giving them an immediate euro area-wide reach.

The ECB’s innovation platform demonstrated the digital euro’s potential to unify the European payments market and unlock new business models through harmonised standards and to support future technological developments. The ECB is using the findings of the innovation platform to inform the further development of the digital euro.

Thus, the digital euro could serve as a platform for PSPs to develop value-added services within their offer (e.g. conditional payments or loyalty programmes).

Moreover, the digital euro compensation model, as currently envisaged in the European Commission’s proposed digital euro Regulation, provides PSPs with economic incentives comparable to other digital means of payment.

Learn more about our engagement with PSPs in the fit of the digital euro in the payment ecosystem report.

Q7. How would the digital euro work?

The digital euro would allow people to make secure instant payments in physical and online shops and between individuals, irrespective of the euro area country they are in or which payment service provider they use.

The first step would be to set up your digital euro wallet through your bank, a post office or other payment service provider.

Once your digital euro wallet is set up, you will be able to put money into it via a linked bank account or by depositing cash. You would then be able to make payments using the digital euro wallet, for example via your phone or a smart card.

Digital euro payments would always be safe and instant – whether in physical stores, in online shops or between people.

The digital euro would offer both online and offline functionalities, meaning you could use it even when you have poor or no network reception. Moreover, personal transaction details of offline digital euro payments would be known only to the payer and the payee, providing a cash-like level of privacy.

Further information on how the digital euro would work.

Q8. Who would be able to use the digital euro?

As stated in the proposed digital euro Regulation presented by the European Commission, the digital euro would be made available to people, businesses and public entities that reside or are established in a euro area Member State on a temporary or permanent basis.

People who travel to the euro area for personal or professional purposes may also have access to the digital euro.

Moreover, people, businesses and public entities residing or established outside the euro area may access the digital euro by opening digital euro accounts with payment service providers established or operating in a country which is a member of the European Economic Area or in a third country, subject to a prior agreement concluded between the EU and the third country concerned and/or arrangements concluded between the European Central Bank and the national central bank of the non-euro area Member State or third country.

Q9. How private would the digital euro be?

Privacy is one of the most important design features of the digital euro.

The digital euro is designed to be able to function offline in a way that would offer users a cash-like level of privacy, both for sending money to other people and for making payments in shops. When paying offline, only the payer and the payee would know the personal transaction details of the payments made. Anti-money laundering checks would be carried out by the distributing payment service provider (PSP) during the funding and defunding process, just as it is the case with cash withdrawals and deposits today.

In the case of online transactions, the Eurosystem would not identify users making or receiving payments, thereby protecting their personal data, but PSPs would be able to identify users for the purpose of compliance with anti-money laundering rules.

Thus, whether online or offline, the Eurosystem would not be able to directly link digital euro transactions to specific individuals.

The digital euro would be governed by EU regulations designed to balance privacy with security. This approach maintains robust protections against illicit activities, while safeguarding individual privacy.

Find out more about the digital euro and privacy.

Q10. How would the ECB ensure that the digital euro is inclusive and accessible?

The digital euro would be a public good, like banknotes and coins are today, but in digital form. The ECB is designing the digital euro and the digital euro app with inclusion as a guiding principle to ensure users are able to make payments under all circumstances. The digital euro app would comply with the European Accessibility Act with a focus on cognitive accessibility to ensure that everyone can quickly learn how to use it.

Informed by user research, as well as interactions with civil society and consumer advocacy organisations, the digital euro’s design embraces the needs of vulnerable consumers. Organisations highlighted the importance of a universally accessible solution, intuitive design and in-person support. Free access to basic digital euro services would also be available to people without a bank account, closing the digital exclusion gap faced by individuals with no fixed address or beneficiaries of international protection.

Under the proposed digital euro Regulation presented by the European Commission, banks distributing the digital euro would be required to provide basic digital euro payment services for free when requested by their customers.

The digital euro would be designed to accommodate the needs of everyone, leaving no one behind.

Q11. How would the ECB ensure that digital euro payments work in the same way throughout the euro area?

Supervised payment service providers (PSPs), such as euro area banks, would be responsible for distributing the digital euro. To ensure the digital euro scheme is implemented in the same way across the entire euro area, the Eurosystem is developing a digital euro scheme rulebook in a collaborative and iterative process with market participants. The rulebook would establish a single set of rules, standards and procedures to ensure consistent basic digital euro services throughout the euro area, providing a uniform experience for users regardless of the Member State they are in or the PSP involved – as is the case with cash today.

Q12. Would the digital euro be an alternative currency within the Eurosystem?

No. Just as banknotes and coins are not alternative currencies, but rather different forms of the same currency, the digital euro would be just another way to pay in euro. The digital euro would accommodate people’s and firms’ growing preference to pay digitally.

Learn more about people’s payment preferences in the study on the payment attitudes of consumers in the euro area (SPACE).

Q13. What would be the link between instant payments and the digital euro?

Today, when consumers make cashless payments in shops, merchants don’t receive the money immediately. The digital euro would change that – all digital euro payments would be instant.

The single set of rules, standards and procedures being developed for the digital euro would mean that instant payment solutions could be further developed to reach all euro area countries. This would reduce Europe’s dependence on the small number of private non-European companies that currently dominate the payments sector.

Q14. How would the digital euro’s technical architecture work, and would it be based on distributed ledger technology such as blockchain?

The digital euro would operate on a centralised settlement platform and the Eurosystem would record and verify all settlements and holdings. As direct liabilities of the Eurosystem, it is important that the digital euro in people’s wallets are safe in order to maintain trust, both in the euro and in the Eurosystem.

The digital euro is not based on distributed ledger technology (DLT), but it makes use of key design principles from DLT to enhance resilience and efficiency and to improve the system’s overall performance and reliability.

The digital euro’s resilient technical architecture would be built on established standards. A multi-region setup in which each region is equipped with multiple servers, going well beyond standard redundancy models, will ensure service continuity under all circumstances.

Q15. Where does the digital euro project currently stand?

The digital euro project is moving forward. The preparation phase, launched in November 2023 and concluded in October 2025, advanced technical development and learning through experimentation. This work built on the design choices and technical requirements defined during the investigation phase.

Following on from the investigation and preparation phases, the Eurosystem is now making further progress on technical work, deepening market engagement and continuing to support the legislative process. We aim to be ready for a potential first issuance of the digital euro during 2029, assuming the necessary regulation on the establishment of the digital euro is adopted in the course of 2026.

Q16. Who is involved in the digital euro project?

The Eurosystem – which comprises the ECB and the national central banks of the euro area – aims to ensure that the digital euro meets users’ needs. For this reason, the Eurosystem engages regularly with policymakers, legislators, market participants, civil society organisations and members of the public, who would be the ultimate users of the digital euro.

This engagement takes place in various contexts, such as the Euro Retail Payments Board, which brings together stakeholders from all parts of the European retail payments market, and the Rulebook Development Group, which comprises senior professionals from the public and private sectors with experience in finance and payments (see Q18).

The ECB also regularly engages with:

The ECB regularly participates in Eurogroup meetings with the finance ministers of euro area countries and provides regular updates on the digital euro project to the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament.

Read more about project governance and stakeholder engagement.

Q17. How are European legislators involved in the process?

On 28 June 2023 the European Commission presented the Single Currency Package containing proposals to support the use of cash and to establish the framework for a possible digital euro. The ECB welcomes the fact that the digital euro proposal is accompanied by a proposal to strengthen the role of cash, as both would be legal tender and forms of central bank money. The purpose of the proposed digital euro Regulation is to ensure that any future digital euro would give people and businesses the option to pay digitally using a widely accepted, cheap, secure and resilient form of public money anywhere in the euro area.

The ECB provides support and technical input during the legislative process, as required. The Eurosystem will consider any necessary adjustments to the design of the digital euro that may emerge from legislative deliberations.

The ECB’s Governing Council will not make a decision on whether to issue the digital euro until the Regulation on the establishment of the digital euro has been adopted.

Q18. How is the digital euro scheme rulebook being developed?

The Eurosystem is developing the draft rulebook in close collaboration with representatives of the European retail payments market through the Rulebook Development Group (RDG).

The RDG, which consists of senior representatives from European associations representing both the supply and demand sides of the European retail payments market, is working on the basis of the digital euro design choices that have already been approved by the ECB’s Governing Council.

Dedicated workstreams have been created within the Rulebook Development Group to focus on sections of the rulebook that require particular expertise.

In June 2025 a revised interim draft of the digital euro scheme rulebook was delivered to the RDG for a market consultation. The draft rulebook remains sufficiently flexible to accommodate any future adjustment deriving from the final text of the Regulation on the establishment of the digital euro, once adopted.

Further information on the digital euro scheme rulebook.

Q19. Would the digital euro be programmable money?

Programmable money is a digital form of money used for a predefined purpose, like a voucher, with limitations on where, when or with whom it can be used.

As also envisaged in the European Commission’s proposed digital euro Regulation, the digital euro would never be programmable money, but it could facilitate conditional payments (for example, if a customer buys something online and chooses the option to pay on delivery).

Q20. Would people have to pay to use the digital euro?

As a public good, the digital euro would be free for basic use by individual users.

Banks or other payment service providers could offer their customers additional, paid digital euro services. Such value-added services could make the digital euro even more attractive to users, for example for making conditional payments. These could allow customers to shop safer online, with money only being transferred when the delivery of the product has been confirmed, thereby reducing the risk of fraud and simplifying refunds.

Q21. How do other pan-European payment initiatives relate to the digital euro?

The ECB welcomes European market initiatives that reach beyond domestic markets.

The digital euro should enable domestic and regional schemes to scale up across different use cases and across borders, facilitating easier, broader and more efficient acceptance of European private sector solutions thanks to the use of harmonised standards. European payment service providers stand to benefit from these opportunities, primarily through increased geographical reach and use cases not previously served.

The design envisages the possibility of integrating private solutions through, for instance, possible co-badging on physical cards and existing digital wallets. In both cases the digital euro would be the “fall-back” that enables full pan-European reach while preserving market access for domestic or regional schemes where they are accepted.

Q22. Would payment service providers (PSPs) be compensated for distributing the digital euro?

The Eurosystem is proposing a compensation model that would create fair economic incentives for all parties involved in the digital euro ecosystem. For banks and other PSPs, the compensation model addresses the operational costs of distributing the digital euro.

As is currently the case with other payment systems, PSPs distributing the digital euro would be able to charge merchants for these services. Price setting for merchants and PSPs would be subject to a cap, as proposed by the European Commission in its digital euro Regulation.

As with the production and issuance of banknotes, the Eurosystem would bear the costs of the establishment of the digital euro scheme and infrastructure. Moreover, the Eurosystem would aim to minimise additional investment costs for PSPs by reusing existing infrastructures as much as possible.

Q23. Would the digital euro pose a threat to financial stability by disintermediating banks?

Our financial system – with the banking system at its centre – functions well, and the Eurosystem wants to preserve the key role banks play in ensuring the efficient provision of credit to the economy.

The ECB has made the following design choices to minimise any potential risks the digital euro might pose to the financial system.

  • Users would only be able to hold a limited amount of digital euro in their account. This would prevent excessive outflows of bank deposits and help preserve the stability of our financial system, even in times of crisis.
  • Linking their digital euro wallet to a bank account would allow users to make payments above the holding limit and cover any shortfall instantly without having to prefund their digital euro wallet (assuming sufficient funds are available in the linked account).
  • As with cash in your wallet, no interest would be paid on digital euro holdings.

The ECB prepared a technical analysis to estimate the potential effects of various hypothetical holding limits, following a request that emerged during legislative negotiations. This analysis confirmed that using the digital euro for day-to-day payments would not harm financial stability and that – given the different hypothetical holding limits of up to €3,000 per person that the co-legislators asked to be tested – the impact of the digital euro would not harm financial stability within the euro area, even under a highly unlikely and extremely conservative crisis scenario.

Q24. Would the introduction of the digital euro make payments in Europe more vulnerable to cyberattacks?

As with other digital infrastructures, the digital euro could be a target for cyberattacks. To mitigate this risk, the design of the digital euro would employ state-of-the-art technologies to create a cyber-resilient and future-proof environment. In the design of the cybersecurity controls, the ECB is making use of proven Eurosystem practices from other market infrastructures and regular planned testing against simulated attacks.

Q25. How would the digital euro be different from stablecoins and crypto-assets?

The digital euro would be central bank money, issued and guaranteed by the Eurosystem, which comprises the European Central Bank and the national central banks of the euro area. Like euro banknotes and coins, it would be legal tender, meaning everyone would be able to use it for payments. As central bank money and a public good, it would be stable and reliable – you would always be able to trust that one digital euro is worth one euro.

Stablecoins are created by private companies. They are not guaranteed by a central bank or public authority. Their value depends on how well the company manages its reserves and finances, and this can be influenced by factors outside their control. This means their stability is not as certain as that of the euro.

Crypto-assets such as Bitcoin or Ether are different again. They are not backed by any institution and have no underlying value. Their prices can go up and down sharply, and there is no organisation responsible if they lose their value.

See our explainer “What is bitcoin?”.

Q26. How much would the digital euro project cost the Eurosystem?

Investing in the digital euro is key to ensuring our currency and payments sector remains fit-for-purpose in the digital age.

Some of the digital euro components, such as payment settlement, would be developed internally within the Eurosystem. For others, like the offline services component, we have established framework agreements with external providers. Framework agreements do not involve any payment and include safeguards allowing the scope to be adjusted in line with changes in the legislation.

Total development costs, comprising both externally and internally developed components are estimated to amount to €1.3 billion, while annual operating costs are projected to be around €320 million. The Eurosystem is continuing preparations in response to calls from euro area leaders to be ready for potential issuance as soon as possible. However, the necessary legislation has not yet been adopted. The work is therefore structured in modules to allow gradual scaling and to limit financial commitments.

The Eurosystem would bear the costs of the establishment of the digital euro scheme and infrastructure, just as it does for the production and issuance of euro banknotes – which, like the digital euro, are a public good. As with banknotes, these costs would be covered by “seigniorage” (the income the ECB earns from issuing money) even if digital euro holdings were small compared with banknotes in circulation. The ECB is committed to keeping costs low by reusing existing infrastructure as much as possible, while still delivering a digital euro that brings value to consumers and merchants.

In line with its nature as a public good, the digital euro would be free for basic use for consumers and cost efficient for European merchants. The Eurosystem would not charge or benefit from any digital euro transaction fees.