Q16: What is the digital euro pilot?
The European Central Bank answers:We answer them:The digital euro pilot is an exercise organised by the Eurosystem to assess how the digital euro could work in practice. Participants will use a beta version of the digital euro in real-life situations to validate its technical functionalities, operational processes and user experience. The pilot is planned to start in the second half of 2027 and will run for 12 months.
During the pilot, staff from participating Eurosystem central banks will make everyday payments using the beta digital euro. For example, they will be able to send money to each other (both online and offline) and pay selected merchants, such as cafeterias, restaurants and online shops linked to the ECB and national central banks. The beta digital euro will be used only for the pilot and is intended to work in a similar way to a possible future digital euro.
The participating PSPs, such as banks, will be selected by the Eurosystem and will provide the services necessary to support these payments.
What we learn from the pilot will support the Eurosystem’s ongoing preparatory work and help inform future decisions on the digital euro to ensure that, if the digital euro is introduced, it is fully equipped to meet the needs of all Europeans.
The digital euro pilot needs to be restricted to a clearly defined user group to not fall under existing regulation of digital payment systems. It is natural to restrict the user group to Eurosystem staff, who will be able to assess the normal operation of the system.
However, this target group will most probably not have enough technical expertise to perform thorough security testing. If no external researchers, security experts or hackers are given access to the pilot, security issues such as double-spending in the offline version (KF2) will only surface once the digital euro is introduced and available to the public.