The ECB’s Piero Cipollone urged EU lawmakers on Tuesday to finish the digital euro law by the end of the year, warning that a delay could push back first issuance and deepen Europe’s reliance on foreign payment providers.
MoneyTurkey Currencies Desk | 10 November 2026
Key points
- Cipollone, an ECB Executive Board member, told the European Parliament’s economic committee that a quick end to trilogue talks would let the Single Currency Package be adopted by year-end.
- A date for the first issuance of a digital euro can only be set after the regulation is adopted, he said.
- The pilot starts in the second half of 2027 with 36 payment providers, picked in July from more than 50 applicants.
What he said
“A delay in adoption could instead postpone the introduction of the digital euro, further entrench Europe’s dependence on foreign providers, and make it more difficult for European companies to innovate and compete,” Cipollone said in Brussels. Parliament adopted its position on the package on 9 July.
The pilot will use a beta version without legal tender status. It will involve Eurosystem staff, the selected payment providers and merchants such as canteens at the ECB and national central banks. A separate call for online and mobile merchants opened in September, and the final merchant list is due early next year. The ECB wants all main uses, including person-to-person, online and in-store payments, available from first issuance, with a gradual rollout in shops.
Tokenised bonds and new banknotes
Cipollone said the Pontes platform, launched in September to settle tokenised deals in central bank money, onboarded 18 market participants and operators on day one. On 2 November it settled the European Stability Mechanism’s first digitally native benchmark bond, worth €1 billion (about $1.1 billion).
9.96 million people responded to the ECB’s survey on ten shortlisted designs for new euro banknotes. The Governing Council is expected to pick a design concept around the end of the year, and the first new notes are due in the early 2030s.
What to watch
- The end of trilogue talks on the Single Currency Package
- The final digital euro pilot merchant list, due early next year
- The ECB’s banknote design decision around year-end
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