The European Central Bank selected 36 payment service providers from across the euro area on Tuesday to test a beta version of the digital euro, naming banks and fintechs including Deutsche Bank, Revolut, UniCredit, Adyen and Worldline for a 12-month pilot due to begin in the second half of 2027. The firms were drawn from 50 applicants, its clearest operational step yet toward a central bank digital currency.

The pilot will run at the ECB and 19 euro-area national central banks. Some providers will distribute the beta currency, giving Eurosystem staff access to digital euro accounts and payments, while others will sign up merchants to accept it. Selected cafeterias, restaurants and online stores will take part, testing person-to-person and person-to-business payments both online and offline. The beta will mirror the design in draft EU legislation but will not carry legal tender status.

“The strong market interest in the pilot shows the private sector’s readiness to engage actively and quickly advance with the digital euro project to strengthen the European payments landscape,” Piero Cipollone, the ECB executive board member who chairs its digital euro task force, said in a statement.

Racing the Stablecoins

The ECB is pushing ahead even with its digital euro plan as it sees the rise of dollar-pegged tokens, led by Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, as a threat to Europe’s monetary sovereignty, a concern board member Isabel Schnabel raised last month in arguing that central bank money must be preserved as private tokens gain ground. A final decision on whether to issue the digital euro still requires the legislation to pass and a separate vote by the ECB Governing Council. The bank has said it could be ready for a possible first issuance in 2029.

The recent move sharpens a transatlantic divide over state-issued digital money. In the United States, a law enacted last week bars a Fed-issued digital dollar through the close of 2030, reflecting privacy advocates’ concern that a central bank could track or cut off access to CBDC funds.

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