CBDC News

Digital Euro Gets Go Ahead

The European Union Parliament has approved the digital euro initiative, reaching agreement with the European Council on creating a currency that will function both online and offline. The vote was clearly in favour with 438 for, 158 against and 44 abstentions. A pilot digital euro is planned for mid-2027 to be ready for first issuance in 2029.

A speech by Burkhard Balz, member of the Executive Board of the Bundesbank, lays out the choices Europe is making on regulation, market infrastructure and forms of digital money, both wholesale and retail.

The aim of the wholesale CBDC is to enable wholesale payments and settlement to continue to be anchored in central bank money, even with the emergence of tokenised assets and new infrastructures.