ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone used a speech to Italy’s cooperative credit banks to make one of the sharper central...
Digital euro
The European Central Bank (ECB) expects to launch the digital euro in 2029, subject to legislative approval of the retail central bank digital currency (CBDC).
In early 2024, the passage of legislation appeared to be a foregone conclusion, but since the mid-2024 European elections, the situation has become more complicated.
The first Rapporteur for the legislation stepped aside, and his replacement, MEP Fernando Navarrete, proposed that the ECB focus on the more privacy-friendly offline solution, while private sector retail payment initiatives such as WERO roll out across Europe.
Both the ECB and the European Council have rejected this approach. Beyond this debate over scope, other controversial topics include holding limits for users and compensation for payment providers.
ECB unveils 36 payment firms to participate in digital euro CBDC pilots
The Eurosystem is planning to run a twelve month pilot for the digital euro starting in the second half of 2027, with 36 payment service...
Full EU parliament votes to push digital euro bill to next stage
Yesterday the European Parliament held a full plenary vote on the digital euro bill, approving the start of trilogue negotiations with...
