The European Central Bank on Tuesday announced that it had selected 36 payment service providers to take part in the pilot phase of the digital euro project, with Deutsche Bank, UniCredit and Revolut among the named participants. The pilot is scheduled to start in the second half of 2027 and run for 12 months.
The 36 firms were chosen from more than 50 applications submitted in response to a call for expressions of interest launched by the ECB in March 2026. The participants span major euro-area incumbents and challenger fintechs, giving the pilot a broad cross-section of the payments industry.
PERSON-TO-PERSON AND POS TESTING
The pilot will test beta digital euro payments in both person-to-person and person-to-business use cases, covering physical point-of-sale transactions, e-commerce and mobile payments. Running the technology across the main channels used by European consumers today is central to demonstrating that the digital euro can complement existing payment options rather than sit alongside them as a niche product.
The exercise involves the ECB together with 19 of the euro area's 21 national central banks. Bulgaria and Malta will not participate in this phase, meaning the pilot's national footprint will cover the bulk of the currency union but not every member state.
Selecting 36 providers is intended to give the pilot enough scale and diversity to generate meaningful data on user experience, technical performance and integration challenges, without becoming unmanageable operationally. The mix of large banks and fintechs also allows the ECB to test how the digital euro would sit within very different distribution models.
FIRST ISSUANCE TARGETED FOR 2029
The ECB is targeting first issuance of the digital euro in 2029, subject to the enabling legislation currently working through the European co-legislators being adopted by the end of 2026. The pilot is a necessary preparatory step, providing evidence to inform the eventual go-live decision by the Governing Council.
The project has always been framed as a public complement to private digital payment options, giving euro-area residents access to a central bank-issued digital form of cash. The pilot will help calibrate design choices such as holding limits, offline functionality and the role of intermediaries.
The ECB's press release listing the selected providers and outlining the pilot timeline is published on its website, together with background material on the digital euro's design and preparation phase.
Drawing 36 participants from more than 50 applications signals substantial industry interest in shaping the design of a euro-area central bank digital currency at an early stage. The named participants, including Deutsche Bank, UniCredit and Revolut, span the spectrum from large incumbent banks to pan-European fintechs, giving the ECB coverage of both established and emerging distribution channels. Testing person-to-person and person-to-business payments across POS, e-commerce and mobile channels ensures that the pilot covers the everyday use cases where a digital euro would sit alongside cards, instant payments and cash.
Running the pilot with 19 of the euro area's 21 national central banks, alongside the ECB, ensures near full geographic coverage of the currency union. The absence of Bulgaria and Malta from this phase leaves scope for those jurisdictions to join in a later stage without disrupting the design work underway now.