The European Central Bank is inviting merchants, payment service providers (PSPs), fintechs, technical vendors and public bodies to join a second round of its digital euro innovation platform. Applications close on 9 November and the work runs through the first half of 2027. The first round set out to prove that conditional payments could work on the digital euro’s core infrastructure. This latest iteration aims to build practical services on that base and to look further ahead at AI driven payments and public sector uses.
The experimentation workstream runs from January to June 2027 and asks participants to develop proofs of concept in four areas. These cover electronic receipts integrated into payment apps, transactions involving several payers or multiple payees, conditional payments that behave consistently across providers, and value added features that PSPs could offer through their apps. Each participant will submit a proof of concept and an outcome report, and the ECB may publish the key findings.
The exploration workstream consists of workshops at the ECB in Frankfurt during the first half of 2027. One theme is artificial intelligence in payments, including AI agents transacting with each other, micropayments and how such tools fit with privacy by design and user control. The other is public uses of a digital euro, from transport and utility bills to smart city initiatives, financial inclusion and resilience scenarios.
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