The European Central Bank (ECB) has given the green light for 36 PSPs and selected merchants to participate in the Eurosystem’s digital euro pilot.
The pilot, which is due to be launched in the second half of 2027 and will run for 12 months, will evaluate digital euro payment journeys across a range of consumer and merchant use cases, including in-store NFC, e-commerce and m-commerce, helping to validate the operational readiness of the future ecosystem.
In the trial, the ECB will check that the system is robust, user-friendly and scalable. The results will support the ongoing preparatory work for the potential issuance of a digital euro.
Participants will include 36 PSPs from across the euro area, ensuring broad representation of business models, size and geography across the euro area selected, says the ECB’s website.
It also features selected merchants, as well as Eurosystem staff, who will test the beta digital euro in everyday situations, for example paying in a cafeteria or for other services.
Not a done deal
Despite the trial going ahead, the Digital Euro is far from a done deal as we reported in June. EuroCommerce, which represents retailers and wholesalers across Europe, has urged Members of the European Parliament to rethink the proposed fee structure for the digital euro, arguing that current proposals risk making the currency unattractive for merchants and consumers alike.
As negotiations continue in Brussels over how the proposed digital euro currency should operate, retailers are warning that the success or failure of the project may ultimately come down to a deceptively simple issue: who pays the fees.
EuroCommerce believes recent compromise proposals around Article 17 of the Digital Euro Regulation have shifted the balance away from merchants and towards banks and payment service providers (PSPs), potentially undermining one of the key objectives of the entire project – creating a cost-efficient European payment alternative that strengthens regional payment sovereignty.
At the heart of the dispute is the principle that merchants should be “better off” accepting digital euros than existing digital payment methods. EuroCommerce argues that this principle is essential because acceptance of the digital euro is expected to be mandatory for retailers. If businesses are required to support the payment method, they argue, they should at least benefit from lower transaction costs.
The trade body is calling for a capped fee model of 0.1% for transactions up to €40 and a maximum charge of four cents for larger transactions, while also demanding that offline digital euro transactions remain entirely free of fees.
While this may appear to be a technical debate about payment economics, the implications stretch much further into the wider digital commerce and telecoms ecosystem.
Ultimately, EuroCommerce’s intervention highlights a broader truth about digital payments: technology alone rarely determines success. Economics matter.
The European Central Bank may be able to build a technically sophisticated digital currency, but unless merchants, consumers and payment providers see clear financial benefits, adoption will remain an uphill battle.
For telemedia, carrier billing and digital content providers, the negotiations are worth watching closely. The final fee structure will not simply determine the cost of accepting a digital euro. It could help shape the future competitive landscape for digital payments across Europe for years to come.
Worldline: a case study of sorts
Worldline, a European payment services provider, is one of the PSPs that has been selected by ECB for the pilot and will participate as both an acquiring payment service provider and technical service provider, supporting banks and financial institutions throughout the digital euro value chain, from infrastructure connectivity and transaction processing to banking channel integration and merchant acceptance.
By leveraging Worldline’s shared, scalable platform capabilities, participating banks and merchants can accelerate implementation, reduce operational complexity and, avoid significant duplicate investments while benefiting from a consistent, interoperable approach across markets.
Worldline combines deep digital euro expertise with end-to-end payment capabilities and a proven experience operating European payment infrastructures, positioning the company as a referenced partner for ecosystem participants. A core differentiator is Worldline’s ability to orchestrate the digital euro alongside existing payment rails, including instant payments, account-to-account solutions, cards, wallets and domestic schemes.
Worldline is participating in the pilot through its Luxembourg-based payment institution – which holds our pan-European license – in close cooperation with the Central Bank of Luxembourg (BCL), as well as through PAYONE in Germany and Austria. Building on this pan-European footprint, long-standing relationships with the financial and merchant communities, and extensive experience delivering large-scale payment innovations, Worldline is uniquely positioned to support the deployment of the digital euro across all its operating markets, working in close coordination with national authorities throughout the pilot and into full-scale market deployment.
“Our selection for the digital euro pilot is an important recognition of Worldline’s role in shaping the future of payments in Europe. We provide the infrastructure, processing, integration capabilities needed to deploy the digital euro efficiently and at scale,” says Pierre-Antoine Vacheron, Worldline Group CEO “Our strength lies in connecting the digital euro with the payment solutions already used across Europe. By combining connectivity, processing, acceptance and orchestration capabilities, we enable our clients to accelerate readiness, reduce complexity and deliver a secure, intuitive and trusted payment experience.”
