Cipollone urges year-end digital euro law to avoid delays
Piero Cipollone urged European lawmakers to adopt the Single Currency Package by the end of 2026 to avoid delaying a possible digital euro. The European Central Bank Executive Board member also backed mandatory cash acceptance and access.
Pilot precedes any issuance
The European Central Bank (ECB) plans a digital euro pilot from the second half of 2027, using a beta version without legal tender status.
Eurosystem staff, 36 payment service providers selected from more than 50 applicants and selected merchants will test functionality, operations and everyday use.
Online and mobile merchant selections are due early in 2027.
All use cases, including person-to-person, e-commerce and point-of-sale payments, are to be technically available at first issuance; market feedback favors a gradual rollout.
Innovation platform activities from January to June 2027 will test conditional payments and electronic receipts and explore artificial intelligence in payments.
An issuance date can be set only after adoption of the regulation.
Cash redesign meets tokenised finance
Almost 10 million responses assessed ten banknote proposals on European culture and rivers and birds.
A final design decision and survey results are due around year-end 2026; first denominations are expected in the early 2030s.
Cipollone backed mandatory cash acceptance, access and resilient infrastructure.
Separately, Pontes connected market distributed ledger platforms to Eurosystem TARGET Services in September, onboarding 18 participants and operators.
On November 2, it settled the European Stability Mechanism's first digitally native benchmark bond of €1 billion.
Legal certainty comes first
Technical preparation does not replace legislation: Cipollone said the legal framework is needed to finalize the design and rulebook and issue the digital euro.
He warned that delays would entrench dependence on foreign providers.
His case pairs digital payment autonomy with continued cash acceptance.