{"id":75418,"date":"2026-07-15T00:41:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/european-central-bank-picks-36-firms-for-2027-digital-euro-payments-pilot\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T00:41:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:41:39","slug":"european-central-bank-picks-36-firms-for-2027-digital-euro-payments-pilot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/european-central-bank-picks-36-firms-for-2027-digital-euro-payments-pilot\/","title":{"rendered":"European Central Bank Picks 36 Firms for 2027 Digital Euro Payments Pilot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"@container mb-[25px] rounded-sm overflow-clip py-0.5 pr-0.5 pl-2.5 bg-success-100\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col gap-m overflow-clip rounded-[6px] !bg-success-10 p-3 @[420px]:p-m\">\n<h2 class=\"m-0 flex items-center gap-s text-[19px] !text-[#1c1c1c] md:text-[20px]\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"10\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 10\" fill=\"none\" class=\"shrink-0 text-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M1 1.5h14\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M1 8.5h10\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><\/svg><span>Key Takeaways<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul class=\"m-0 flex list-none flex-col gap-m pl-0\">\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">The ECB picked 36 providers for a 12-month digital euro pilot starting in H2 2027.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">Stripe joined the pilot as the ECB tests payments, merchants, and offline transactions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">The pilot will test real-world use while privacy concerns remain central to adoption.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>ECB Advances Digital Euro With 12-Month Pilot Across 19 Countries<\/h2>\n<p>The European Central Bank has selected 36 payment service providers to take part in a digital euro pilot, moving the project into a more practical testing phase after years of design work.<\/p>\n<p>The pilot is expected to begin in the second half of 2027 and run for 12 months. It will take place at the ECB and 19 national central banks across the euro area, including those in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Portugal, Finland, and several others.<\/p>\n<p>The ECB <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecb.europa.eu\/press\/pr\/date\/2026\/html\/ecb.pr260714~8cd07d9d45.en.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said<\/a> it received more than 50 applications after opening <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecb.europa.eu\/press\/intro\/news\/html\/ecb.mipnews260305.en.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">expressions of interest<\/a> in March 2026. The selected participants include banks and non-bank payment companies, with a mix of business models, sizes, and geographic coverage.<\/p>\n<h2>Pilot Will Test Real Payment Flows<\/h2>\n<p>The trial will use a beta version of the digital euro. It will be close to the design currently envisioned in draft legislation, but it will not have legal tender status.<\/p>\n<p>Some firms will act as distributing payment service providers, giving Eurosystem staff access to beta digital euro services such as account setup and payments. Others will act as acquiring providers, enabling selected merchants to receive beta digital euro payments. Some participants will do both.<\/p>\n<p>The pilot will include person-to-person payments, both online and offline. It will also test consumer-to-business payments at physical points of sale, including software-based point-of-sale systems, as well as e-commerce and mobile payments.<\/p>\n<p>Piero Cipollone, the ECB executive board member leading the digital euro task force, said the level of market interest shows \u201cthe private sector\u2019s readiness to engage actively with the digital euro project to strengthen the European payments landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Stripe Welcomes Test, Critics Warn on Control<\/h2>\n<p>Stripe is among the companies selected for the pilot. Eileen O\u2019Mara, Stripe\u2019s vice chair, said Europe has a rare chance to shape its digital payments future. She <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/eileenomara\/status\/2076991133184385288?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tweeted<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">Success will depend on building a digital euro that works for the real economy: one that is easy to integrate and provides the security, reliability, and performance businesses expect from today\u2019s payment infrastructure.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The announcement also drew fresh criticism from digital asset advocates and central bank digital currency skeptics. Handre Van Heerden <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Handre\/status\/2076981452307103766?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">argued<\/a> on X that the digital euro would give the ECB too much control over money, raising concerns about traceability, restrictions on spending and possible policy tools such as negative rates or expiry rules.<\/p>\n<p>Those concerns have followed the project for years. Privacy has been one of the most sensitive issues in public debate, while the ECB has framed the digital euro as a way to preserve monetary sovereignty as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/what-are-stablecoins\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stablecoins<\/a>, private payment networks and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/a-quick-introduction-to-crypto\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">crypto<\/a> assets expand.<\/p>\n<p>For Europe, the pilot is a key test of whether a central bank digital currency can meet real-world payment needs without undermining public trust. The technology may be ready, but the harder challenge will be convincing citizens and businesses that the digital euro is useful, private, and worth adopting.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/european-central-bank-picks-36-firms-for-2027-digital-euro-payments-pilot\/\">Source link <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News ) Key Takeaways The ECB picked 36 providers for a 12-month digital euro pilot starting in H2 2027. Stripe joined the pilot as the ECB tests payments, merchants, and offline transactions. The pilot will test real-world use while privacy concerns remain central to adoption. ECB Advances Digital Euro With [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3947362377,"featured_media":75419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75418"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3947362377"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}