Digital Euro

The Digital Euro Project

The digital euro project is a joint initiative of the European Central Bank and of the national central banks of the euro area, which are looking into the possible issuance of a digital euro. It also entails an important aspect of the strategy of the European Commission, because a strong euro supports the strategic autonomy of the European Union, to the benefit of consumers and businesses.  

Complementing banknotes and coins, a digital euro would be an electronic form of public money. It would be a digital means of payment that would make people’s lives easier, because it would be universally accepted throughout the euro area, for payments in shops, online or from person to person. Like cash, a digital euro would be risk-free, widely accessible, user-friendly, free for basic use, with online and offline availability and would protect the privacy of users. 

Key points

• A digital euro would be the natural evolution of our currency in the digital sphere, combining the benefits of electronic means of payment with the unique attributes of cash.  

• We are examining how to make our currency digital. The way people prefer to pay is changing and it is important for our currency to evolve in parallel. It would complement – not replace – cash. 

• The digital euro is a european initiative that would offer something that does not exist today: a truly European digital means of payment universally accepted throughout the euro area; it would be endowed with the status of legal tender, it would offer the highest privacy levels and it would protect the personal data of users.

• No matter what, the euro will continue to be reliable money. Either in digital or physical form, ‘one euro will always be one euro’.

• The Eurosystem would not change the existing relationship of clients with their payment service providers: licensed and supervised banks, payment institutions and electronic money institutions would offer to their clients an additional means of payment, this being the option of public money.  

• Merchants would have instant access to funds received from digital euro payments, while they would be in a better bargaining position for lower fees than the ones they bear today.  

More information on the digital euro is found on the website of the European Central Bank at this link.  

Answers to frequently asked questions

Comprehensive answers to frequently asked questions are found on the website of the European Central Bank at this link. 

ECB Thrifold on the Digital Euro

Digital euro: safeguarding the existing order of our financial system (article by Mr Stelios Georgakis)