ECB (European Central Bank)
The issuer of the digital euro project. In October 2025 the ECB Governing Council decided to move to the next phase of the digital euro project, leading to the digital euro pilot: a controlled-environment test of a “beta digital euro” — a digital means of payment without legal tender status, bearing similar characteristics to the eventual digital euro, issued by the eurosystem.
The beta digital euro is not the digital euro as defined in the proposed EU Regulation on the establishment of the digital euro — the pilot exists to validate technical/operational readiness ahead of (and independent from) that Regulation’s adoption.
Role in the pilot
- Runs the call for expression of interest and PSP selection process (selection-and-participation-process).
- Coordinates and monitors the psp-feedback-framework.
- Sets communication-guidelines pilot PSPs must follow.
- Provides central Eurosystem-level services (see eurosystem for the operational split between ECB and ncb).
Related
eurosystem · ncb · pilot-psp · selection-and-participation-process · pilot-timeline