In a conference speech, European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone outlined the ECB’s response to rapid changes in money and payments, citing digitalisation and the risk of fragmentation in European retail payments as key drivers. He positioned a potential digital euro as a digital equivalent of cash, alongside work to foster privately operated pan-European payment solutions and support the full deployment of instant payments. The speech referenced ECB survey results showing that online payments rose to 36% of the value of non-recurring day-to-day payments in 2024 from 18% in 2019, while cash at the point of sale declined to 39% in 2024 from 54% in 2016. It also highlighted the lack of a euro area-wide digital means of payment, noting that 13 of the 20 euro area countries have no national card scheme and that international card schemes were used to settle 65% of electronically initiated card transactions made with cards issued in the euro area. The digital euro concept covers person-to-person, point-of-sale and e-commerce use cases, with design choices including accessibility, offline payments, complementarity with cash and high privacy standards. Beyond retail, the ECB described exploratory work on distributed ledger technology for wholesale settlement in central bank money and “recently decided” initiatives to improve cross-border payments, including multi-currency settlement leveraging TIPS, interlinkages with fast payment systems outside Europe and exploration of TIPS support for the SEPA one-leg out instant payment scheme with selected partners. The digital euro project timeline set out an investigation phase from October 2021 to October 2023 and a preparation phase from November 2023 to October 2025, with next steps including finalising the scheme rulebook, selecting service providers and further experimentation and technical work, including on offline functionality and a testing and roll-out plan. A decision to issue a digital euro would be considered only once the European Union legislative process has been completed.
European Central Bank 2025-01-17
European Central Bank sets out digital euro preparation roadmap to October 2025 and new TIPS-based cross-border payment initiatives
ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone addressed digitalisation and fragmentation risks in European retail payments, emphasizing the digital euro as a cash equivalent. ECB survey results indicated online payments rising to 36% in 2024, with cash usage declining. The ECB is exploring distributed ledger technology for wholesale settlement and initiatives to enhance cross-border payments, with a digital euro decision pending EU legislative completion.