An official of the European Central Bank (ECB) has made it clear that it is preparing to launch a digital euro by mid-2029, but only if EU lawmakers pass the necessary legislation.
A digital euro would be a “digital version of cash” issued by the central bank, designed to be usable for everyday payments including online, according to an interview with ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone with Cyprus News Agency published on Sunday, and released by the bank's press service.
Cipollone said the project is intended to let people keep using central bank money even in situations where cash cannot be used, such as shopping on the internet, while offering “one instrument” that can work across the euro area.
He stated the ECB is also developing an offline option that would allow digital euro payments even without electricity or an internet connection, with money stored in a wallet in advance for those transactions.
The ECB is moving ahead partly because “almost 70% of card-initiated transactions are processed by non-European companies”, raising concerns about the resilience of payments in Europe, he said.
What needs to happen before any launch
Cipollone declared that the ECB has not issued a digital euro and will not do so until legislation is in place.
On the legal side, the European Commission published its proposal in June 2023, while the Council of the European Union agreed a position in December 2025 that is “pretty close” to the Commission’s original text, Cipollone said.
The European Parliament is expected to vote on its position in May, with negotiations between EU institutions expected to follow and legislation potentially agreed by the end of 2026.
The ECB plans to start a pilot in 2027, meaning some payments would be initiated on a trial basis, and it is working towards being ready to issue the digital euro by mid-2029 if the legal framework is approved.
Addressing bank concerns about deposits moving out of accounts, Cipollone said the digital euro would not pay interest and would include holding limits, while payments would use a “waterfall” process that draws funds from a user’s bank account at the moment of payment for online transactions.
He said only individuals — not merchants — would be able to hold digital euro.
On privacy, Cipollone said the ECB would not see who is paying whom for online transactions, receiving only encrypted codes, while offline transactions would be visible only to the payer and payee.
In a separate section of the interview on monetary policy, Cipollone said the ECB does not target the exchange rate, but uses it as one input in its inflation projections, adding that the euro has appreciated at the beginning of 2026 and has been around $1.17 to $1.18 for much of the past year.
