Overview
- Germany’s Bundesbank said the Eurosystem is preparing to be able to issue a digital euro in 2029 and expects the legal framework to be in place by the end of 2026.
- EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis urged faster work on the project to reduce reliance on U.S. providers, noting Visa and Mastercard handle nearly two‑thirds of EU card transactions.
- ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone rejected proposals to limit the design to offline use, stressing the need to serve e‑commerce.
- Authorities present the digital euro as pan‑European infrastructure to cut market fragmentation and enable simple, secure cross‑border cashless payments.
- Officials say it will complement cash with offline capability and strong privacy protections, and they highlight coexistence with private solutions such as integration into wallets like Wero.