At a public event in DNB's visitor center, Menno Broos of De Nederlandsche Bank outlined the European Central Bank's digital euro project as an additional public payment instrument meant to remain usable if mainstream digital payments are disrupted. He said the ECB is currently designing the supporting infrastructure and, if the European Parliament approves the project in its current form by the end of June, DNB and other euro area central banks could begin testing in 2027, with public use possible from 2029 if implementation stays on plan. Broos highlighted the offline version as a core feature. Digital euro balances would be stored locally on a card or phone rather than only on remote infrastructure, allowing value to be transferred directly between devices even if the phone network, power supply or wider payment system fails. He also said offline payments would not be traceable, making them comparable to cash from a privacy perspective, but that this creates a trade-off because funds stored on a lost phone or card would not be recoverable, even if the device can be blocked remotely. Acceptance outside the euro area remains undecided and would depend on political decisions and merchant uptake in non-euro countries, which would not be required to accept the instrument. Broos also said the digital euro is intended to coexist with cash rather than replace it.
De Nederlandsche Bank2026-06-22
De Nederlandsche Bank outlines potential 2029 digital euro rollout and offline cash-like features
At a DNB public event, Menno Broos said the ECB's digital euro could be tested by euro area central banks in 2027 and used by the public from 2029 if the European Parliament approves the project in its current form. He presented it as a backup public payment method for major outages, with an offline version stored on a phone or card that can be transferred directly and would not be traceable. Cash would remain in circulation, while use outside the euro area is still undecided.