Overview
- Bundesbank board member Burkhard Balz confirmed a dual approach with a retail digital euro for citizens and a wholesale CBDC for financial markets in a Nov. 3 keynote in Berlin.
- Project Pontes will link DLT market platforms to TARGET services, with the Eurosystem committing to a pragmatic wholesale CBDC solution by the end of 2026.
- EU lawmakers are negotiating the legal framework, with trilogue expected in 2026 and an estimated 2.5–3 years for implementation afterward, putting first retail availability around 2029.
- Design goals include user privacy with no direct identification by the Eurosystem and offline payment capability to keep transactions running during network or power outages.
- The ECB’s innovation work with nearly 70 market participants will continue, focusing on conditional payments and programmable use cases, while Project Appia explores fully digital market interactions.