In a speech, European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said safeguarding monetary sovereignty now depends on keeping central bank money effective in a changing payments and market structure. He argued that the euro area must reduce its dependence on non-European payment providers, ensure the euro remains usable in digital retail payments, and provide central bank money for emerging tokenised financial markets so that critical payment and settlement functions do not migrate to non-European infrastructures or non-euro assets. The speech focused on three areas. In retail payments, Cipollone highlighted heavy reliance on international card schemes, which account for about two-thirds of euro area card transactions, and noted that 13 of 21 euro area countries lack a domestic card scheme. Cash remains essential and the Eurosystem is preparing a third series of euro banknotes, but more than one-third of everyday payments are online, where cash cannot be used. He therefore presented the digital euro as a European public payment option for online and offline use across the euro area, with legal tender status and open standards that would let banks and fintechs build payment services on a pan-European acceptance network without relying on international card schemes. In wholesale markets, he said the Eurosystem is preparing to connect commercial distributed ledger technology platforms to TARGET Services in the coming months under the Pontes project so tokenised asset trades can settle in central bank money, while work on the longer-term Appia programme is aimed at a full blueprint in 2028. On cross-border payments, he said the Eurosystem is expanding links between the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement system and other fast payment systems to reduce reliance on third currencies and respond to the growing role of US dollar stablecoins. Cipollone said the European Central Bank is making technical preparations for a digital euro but would issue it only after the digital euro Regulation is adopted. He welcomed the recent political agreement in the European Parliament and said that, if the Regulation is adopted by the end of 2026, the European Central Bank intends to launch a pilot in 2027 and issue the first digital euro in the course of 2029. He also said a bilateral link between TIPS and India's Unified Payments Interface is due to go live in 2027, while Norway is set to connect in 2028.
European Central Bank2026-06-19
European Central Bank's Cipollone says digital euro and tokenised central bank money are needed to protect monetary sovereignty
In a speech, European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said the euro area's monetary sovereignty requires less reliance on non-European payment systems and a stronger role for central bank money in digital payments and tokenised finance. He pointed to the digital euro for retail payments, Pontes and Appia for tokenised wholesale settlement, and broader TIPS links for cross-border payments. If the digital euro Regulation is adopted by the end of 2026, the European Central Bank intends a pilot in 2027 and first issuance in 2029.