Digital Euro Expected To Launch By 2029 After EU Backing
4 96The European Parliament's economic committee has backed a digital euro designed to reduce Europe's dependence on US-controlled payment networks such as Visa and Mastercard. The ECB-backed currency is targeted for launch by 2029 after a full parliamentary vote and negotiations with EU member states. Euronews reports: Under the proposal, consumers would be able to hold digital euros in a dedicated wallet, subject to a holding limit that has yet to be determined. The system would support both online and offline payments and is intended to offer a high degree of privacy, with the ECB unable to directly identify users from their payment data.
The ECB would provide the underlying infrastructure, while commercial banks and payment service providers would offer digital euro services to customers. Financial institutions are expected to be compensated for their participation in the scheme, while merchants will pay fees that are expected to be lower than those associated with current card transactions.
How that compensation should be structured remains one of the most contentious issues ahead of negotiations with EU member states, according to three sources familiar with the discussions. [...] The European Parliament is expected to formalise the committee's position during a plenary vote in Strasbourg in early July. Negotiations with the EU's 27 member states would then begin, with lawmakers aiming to reach a final agreement before the end of the year.
4 comments
Re:CBDC, and so it begins (Score: 5, Interesting)
by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Wednesday June 24, 2026 @04:33AM (#66207298)
As the summary notes, it is designed so that transactions are anonymous to the ECB. Likely that means pseudo-anonymous, in that identity could be determined with some effort, but that goes for cash too. Fingerprints, serial numbers, CCTV everywhere...
The goal is to provide a replacement for cash, because cash is expensive to manage. The government has to physically create it, and replace it as it wears out or the security needs updating. Businesses have to count it and transport it to the bank, and can be victims of counterfeiting. One of the reasons why many of them prefer card payments, even with the fees, is due to the overhead of handling bank notes and coins.
To do that, it is going to have to be genuinely as private as cash is. Believe it or not, the EU isn't all about surveillance, and privacy is considered an important right. Remember that the EU created GDPR, and some member states like Germany go even further with strict privacy laws.
Re:There is very little need (Score: 5, Insightful)
by bsolar ( 1176767 ) on Tuesday June 23, 2026 @02:21PM (#66206266)
Bank-transfers are fast, cheap, efficient in the Euro-zone. A "Digital Euro" has no real uses. My take is this is some politicians desiring to appear "modern".
The idea is not to replace or compete with SEPA: it's to try to replicate some nice aspects of cash in a more and more cash-less society especially for day-to-day transactions.
A cash-less payment currently needs to involve a private financial institution somewhere in the transaction. This is because the central bank only issues cash. This "digital euro" supposedly will allow for cash-less transaction only involving government institutions instead of private ones.
Of course the question is whether you trust more a government institution than a private one and whether this will open the door to an eventual phasing-out of cash down the road...
Re:There is very little need (Score: 5, Interesting)
by Errol backfiring ( 1280012 ) on Tuesday June 23, 2026 @03:00PM (#66206382)
Especially banks want a cashless society. The idea of a Central Bank Digital Currency is already quite old in Europe, but the banks have sabotaged it time and time again, out of fear that they would not be necessary anymore and would be unable to squeeze themselves between every payment.
Re: There is very little need (Score: 5, Interesting)
by bsolar ( 1176767 ) on Tuesday June 23, 2026 @03:29PM (#66206420)
Ah, so does that work in all EU-countries? Or just in yours?
Instant SEPA support for retail payments is still fragmentary and relies on private financial institutions.
The idea with the Digital Euro is that it would effectively have "legal tender" status. The EU would definitely push for widespread adoption.