Digital Euro: Standards to facilitate payments across Europe

The European Central Bank (ECB) has signed agreements with three European standard-setting organizations – ECPC, nexo standards, and Berlin Group – to integrate their open technical standards for online digital euro payments.

ECPC's CPACE standards will enable contactless 'Tap to pay' via Near Field Communication (NFC).

Nexo standards connect merchant systems with payment service providers and acquirers, facilitating payment acceptance and ATM transactions.

The Berlin Group's standards allow payments using aliases like mobile numbers, supporting balance checks and mobile app-initiated transactions.

This collaboration aims to minimize costs for market participants and foster early coordination among all stakeholders.

The standards were selected in cooperation with market participants in the Rulebook Development Group and align with the Eurosystem's payment strategy objectives.

Europe currently lacks a universally available open standard for payments, relying heavily on proprietary international systems.

The adoption of these widespread European standards will simplify digital euro acceptance and create a unified user experience across the Eurozone, enabling European payment systems to expand geographically.

The full benefits will materialize once EU legislators adopt the digital euro regulation, ensuring these standards apply as legal tender.

This regulatory clarity will provide market participants with investment security and reduce Europe's current payment dependencies.