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On 30 October 2025, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its decision to move to the next phase of the digital euro project.
The Governing Council's decision accords with European leaders' request to accelerate progress on the digital euro, during the October 2025 Euro Summit and follows the successful completion of the preparation phase (launched in November 2023) which laid the foundations for issuing a digital euro. For further information on the proposal to introduce a digital euro and the preparation phase please see our articles here and here.
The digital euro is expected to preserve Europeans' freedom of choice and privacy and protect Europe's monetary sovereignty and economic security and foster innovation in payments and help make European payments competitive, resilient and inclusive.
Next steps
The ECB Governing Council's final decision on whether to issue a digital euro, and on what date, will only be taken once the legislation has been adopted.
The Eurosystem plans to implement its preparations flexibly, in line with calls from euro area leaders for the Eurosystem to be ready for a potential digital euro issuance as soon as possible, while also recognising that the legislative process has not yet been completed. To this end, work will be structured in modules to enable gradual scaling and limit financial commitments.
If European co-legislators adopt the Regulation on the establishment of the digital euro in the course of 2026, a pilot exercise and initial transactions could take place as of mid-2027; potentially readying the Eurosystem for a first issuance of the digital euro during 2029.
Areas of focus
The Eurosystem will focus on three main areas:
- technical readiness: developing the digital euro's technical foundations, including initial system set-up and piloting;
- market engagement: collaborating with payment providers, merchants and consumers to finalise the rulebook, conduct user research and test the system through pilot activities;
- legislative process support: continue providing technical input to EU co-legislators and assist the legislative process as required.
Cost
The final cost of a digital euro, for both its development and operation, will depend on its final design, including components and related services that need to be developed. As a result of the work done in the preparation phase, the total development costs, comprising both externally and internally developed components, are estimated at around €1.3 billion until the first issuance, which is currently expected during 2029. Subsequent annual operating costs are projected to be approximately €320 million per year from 2029. The Eurosystem would bear these costs, as it does for producing and issuing euro banknotes.
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