A delay in adopting the digital euro's legal framework could postpone its introduction and further entrench Europe's dependence on foreign providers, Piero Cipollone, a member of the European Central Bank's Executive Board, told the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs in Brussels on 10 November.
He said a swift conclusion of the trilogue negotiations would allow the Single Currency Package to be adopted by the end of the year. The planned date for a possible first issuance can be set only after the regulation is adopted, he said.
BANKS PLAN A EURO STABLECOIN
The Parliament adopted its position on the package with broad support in its plenary session on 9 July, Cipollone said. Separately, thirty-seven of Europe's largest financial institutions have committed to launch a regulated euro stablecoin through Qivalis, an Amsterdam-based joint venture that De Nederlandsche Bank has authorised as an electronic money institution, according to Blockchain.News.
The Qivalis consortium began with twelve founding banks and now spans fifteen countries. Euro-denominated stablecoins grew from about €50 million in market capitalisation at the start of 2024 to €450 million by January 2026, the report said, a small fraction of the roughly US$300 billion market for dollar-denominated stablecoins.
A PILOT WITHOUT LEGAL TENDER STATUS
The pilot will test the digital euro's technical functionality, operational processes and user experience using a beta version without legal tender status. Starting in the second half of 2027, it will involve Eurosystem staff, participating payment service providers and selected merchants offering everyday services, for example in canteens at the ECB and participating national central banks.
In July the ECB named 36 payment service providers for the pilot from more than 50 applicants, including banks and non-bank providers of different sizes and business models. A further call for online and mobile merchants to test remote payments opened in September, and the final selection of merchants will be announced early next year.
Cipollone also pointed to Pontes, launched in September to connect market distributed ledger technology platforms with the Eurosystem's TARGET Services, which onboarded 18 market participants and operators on day one. Cipollone said Pontes settled the issuance of the European Stability Mechanism's first digitally native benchmark bond of €1 billion.
CASH STAYS IN THE PLAN
Cipollone said the ECB supports strong legislative provisions on mandatory cash acceptance, access to cash across the euro area and the resilience of cash infrastructure. A survey inviting Europeans' views on ten shortlisted designs for new euro banknotes received almost 10 million responses, and the first denominations of the new series are expected to enter circulation in the early 2030s.
THE TGB VIEW
The digital euro now has a dated path: merchant selection early next year, a further wave of innovation platform activities, including tests of conditional payments, from January to June 2027 and a pilot in the second half of 2027, but no issuance date until the regulation is adopted. Market participants have told the ECB that a gradual rollout would give them time to adapt. The comparison with private money is stark: euro stablecoins reached only €450 million by January 2026 against roughly US$300 billion for dollar-denominated stablecoins, the scale against which both the bank-led and the public projects will be measured.
Related: European central banks propose flexible MiCA liquidity rules for stablecoins
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