An average of around one in five Europeans would use the digital euro “several times a week” if the proposed central bank digital currency is introduced (15-21%) and just over one in four expect it to be used as a supplement to existing payment methods (26%), according to a BearingPoint survey... More
The European Central Bank (ECB) has completed the initial two-year investigation phase of its digital euro project and will now implement a two-year preparation phase that will cover the finalisation of a digital euro rulebook, the selection of providers to develop a digital euro platform and infrastructure, as well as testing and experimentation across a range of use cases for the central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
A working group of 30 Spanish banks and payment services providers, including BBVA, Banco Sabadell, Banco Santander, CaixaBank and Iberpay, have completed a proof of concept (PoC) trial for digital euro transactions and recommended that the proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC) is designed to leverage existing payments infrastructure... More
CWC SPEAKER RECAP: Contactless World Congress is a year-round online conference and expo that brings you presentations from industry experts on the subjects that matter to those in the global contactless business... More
“We believe that the digital euro is the natural and digital evolution of our currency,” Evelien Witlox, the programme director in charge of the European Central Bank’s digital euro project, reports in a presentation for NFCW’s Contactless World Congress online event series which is now available to view in the NFCW Knowledge Centre... More
The European Central Bank (ECB) should continue to develop the digital euro and start its proposed testing phase in October this year, but should not go ahead with launching the proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC) “unless new elements emerge strongly supporting such a decision”, according to an analysis paper requested by the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON)... More
The digital euro should be distributed via apps, digital and physical cards and other form factors that enable consumers to make both NFC and QR code in-store payments with the proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to a European Central Bank (ECB) report... More
The proposed retail digital euro should be appropriately designed in collaboration with the private sector, create value for end-users, preserve financial stability and incentivise and enable private sector intermediaries to add solutions and services within the central bank digital currency (CBDC) ecosystem, according to a European Banking Federation (EBF) vision paper... More
The European Central Bank (ECB) has laid out plans for a staggered rollout of a digital euro that would begin with the bank initially releasing the central bank digital currency (CBDC) for use in person-to-person and ecommerce transactions... More
The European Central Bank (ECB) is considering plans to develop a digital euro app that would enable consumers to use the proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC) to make contactless and QR code-based payments and “facilitate a standard approach to connecting end users to intermediaries” including banks and other payments processors... More
More than six in ten card payments made at the point of sale (POS) across European countries within the eurozone are now contactless (62%) compared with just over four in ten in 2019 (41%), a European Central Bank (ECB) survey reveals... More
The ECB has laid out a series of design and distribution options for a digital euro that describe how the Eurosystem and supervised intermediaries such as commercial banks would operate in order to issue, distribute and settle transactions made using the proposed central bank digital currency. More
The European Commission has selected four proposals for large-scale pilot programmes to test the European Digital Identity Wallet across multiple use cases, including in-store, online and cross-border payments, travel, ecommerce, access to services and credential verification... More
Some 30 banks and payment services providers in Spain, including BBVA, Banco Sabadell, Banco Santander, ING, Deutsche Bank and Iberpay, have set up a working group to test the use of a digital euro for contactless in-store payments as well as ecommerce transactions and peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers... More
The European Commission is planning to propose the legislation required for the introduction of the digital euro as a central bank digital currency issued by the European Central Bank (ECB) in 2023, EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness has confirmed... More
The European Central Bank (ECB) is to trial five prototype digital euro payment solutions to test how front-end user interfaces and back-end infrastructure can be integrated to enable users to make peer-to-peer, point-of-sale and ecommerce payments with the proposed central bank digital currency... More
A consortium of government agencies, financial institutions, payments networks and technology providers from Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Latvia and Norway is proposing to launch a large-scale payments pilot to explore how the European Digital Identity Wallet being developed by the European Commission would support cross-border transactions... More
The European Commission has launched a targeted consultation on the expected impact of a digital euro on key industries, institutions, consumers, merchants and other stakeholders in international trade... More
European consumers consider the ability to make instant contactless payments, including person-to-person transfers, to be a priority and “a very important selling point” for a digital euro, according to European Central Bank (ECB) research... More
The European Commission is to launch a consultation prior to proposing legislation that will lay out the legal framework for the ongoing development and potential issuance of a digital euro by the European Central Bank (ECB)... More