The European Central Bank has selected 36 payment service providers to participate in a 12-month digital euro pilot scheduled to begin in the second half of 2027. The exercise moves the project into operational testing, but it is not an issuance decision: the beta digital euro used in the pilot will not have legal tender status.
The ECB said it received more than 50 applications after inviting expressions of interest in March 2026. The selected group includes banks and non-bank providers with different business models and geographic footprints. The ECB’s published roster includes Adyen, Deutsche Bank, Revolut Bank, Stripe Technology Europe, Nexi Payments and Worldline Financial Services, alongside national and regional institutions.
What the pilot will test
The pilot will take place at the ECB and 19 euro-area national central banks. Eurosystem staff, selected e-commerce businesses and physical merchants such as cafeterias and restaurants will participate.
Test scenarios will cover person-to-person and person-to-business payments. They include online and offline transfers, physical point-of-sale transactions, software-based point of sale, e-commerce and mobile payments. Some providers will distribute beta digital euro services to users, some will enable merchant acceptance, and others will perform both roles.
That division of responsibilities is important for payment companies. The pilot is designed to test more than the core settlement technology: it will examine provider onboarding, account setup, acceptance, operational processes and the end-user experience across a multi-provider environment. The ECB says the beta system will be functionally and technically close to the model contemplated in draft legislation.
A practical integration test, not a launch
For processors, acquirers and banks, the selection creates a structured environment to test how a public digital payment instrument could fit into existing channels. The range of use cases should expose integration questions across consumer interfaces, merchant checkout, online connectivity and offline operation. It should also provide evidence about whether common rules and technical interfaces can produce a consistent experience across participating countries and providers.
The scope remains controlled. Participants will work with their national central banks and the ECB to prepare, while the locations in which individual providers will offer pilot services are still to be finalized. Results will inform the design and user experience rather than put a generally available digital euro into circulation.
Issuance still depends on legislation
The European Commission proposed a legal framework for a possible digital euro in June 2023 as part of its single-currency package. Under that proposal, a digital euro would complement cash, and the ECB would retain the decision on whether and when to issue it after the legal framework is adopted.
The ECB’s pilot page says it aims to be ready for a potential first issuance during 2029, assuming the digital euro Regulation is adopted in 2026. It also states that the ECB will decide whether to issue only after the Regulation has been adopted and that preparation will remain aligned with the legislative process.
The immediate significance for the payments sector is therefore narrower but tangible: 36 providers will help test distribution and merchant acceptance before any public launch decision. The pilot should generate operational evidence on whether the proposed system can work across different institutions, channels and payment situations at euro-area scale.