The European Central Bank (ECB) signed agreements with three European standard‑setting organizations to implement open technical standards in the digital euro infrastructure.
The ECB partnered with the European Card Payment Cooperation (ECPC), nexo standards, and the Berlin Group, all of which specialize in developing payment standards. The collaboration includes using existing standards to process online payments with the digital euro.
Under these agreements, the ECB will rely on three key standards:
- The CPACE standard, developed by ECPC, which supports contactless payments using NFC technology.
- nexo standards specifications, which enable communication between merchant systems and the back-end systems of payment providers and acquirers, supporting payment acceptance and processing.
- Berlin Group standards, which allow payments to be initiated via aliases such as phone numbers, as well as support balance checks and transaction authorization on mobile devices.
The use of open standards will help reduce Europe’s reliance on proprietary solutions from international card schemes and global digital wallets. Currently, there’s no universal open standard across the EU supported by all payment terminals. According to the ECB, adopting pan-European standards will allow payment systems to expand geographically without requiring upgrades to POS infrastructure. In particular, national card schemes will be able to enter other EU markets without technical modifications to terminals.
The implementation of these standards will begin before the actual issuance of the digital euro. A key condition will be the adoption of relevant regulation by European lawmakers, establishing the digital euro as legal tender and providing legal certainty for its use. This is expected to drive the scaling of European payment solutions beyond national markets and reduce the region’s current dependence in the payments sector. According to Piero Cipollone, Member of the ECB’s Executive Board, open digital euro standards will create a free European alternative to existing proprietary solutions and lower barriers to entry for new market participants.
The digital euro project has been under development since 2020. In 2022, compatibility tests with existing financial infrastructure were conducted. Active testing of the European digital currency and the development of standards began in 2023. In the following years, a draft regulation was developed and several technology providers were selected for the future CBDC. In 2026, applications were opened for experts interested in contributing to the development of digital euro standards and infrastructure. The issuance of the digital euro is planned for 2027, with access for eurozone citizens expected by 2029.
