The European Central Bank (ECB) have released their third progress report on design for a potential digital euro on April 24th, looking into access and distribution options that were endorsed by the ECB’s Governing Council. ECB executive board member Fabio Panetta also appeared before the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, confirming that the digital euro will be a true public good.

The progress report reveals that digital euro user onboarding would be via payment service providers, who use their own established procedures such as Know Your Customer verification. Initially, services could be available through PSPs’ apps or an app provided by Eurosystem, but after launch in the Eurozone, cross-border functionalities could be added. The report also outlines that in-store sales could be facilitated through QR codes or touchless technology as well as online payments and other offline functionalities, that also include conditional payments.

The ECB also released a focus group survey conducted by consultants Kantar Public, which found budget management tools, peer-to-peer, offline and QR code payments, were received well by study participants. Privacy issues were mentioned by some of the participants. Europeans’, according to Panetta’s speech, main feature they want in the digital euro is to be able to pay anywhere and have the option to use it just like they do with cash, a sentiment that the ECB appears to apply to their vision for the digital euro.

The Eurosystem are currently conducting their own study into digital euro distribution, and the European Commission plan to propose a regulation in the second quarter of 2021 to bring the digital euro from idea to reality. The further potential of the digital euro is unknown, as the ECB await the outcome of their own observations and input from the European Commission. However, with the advancements already made, the digital euro is looking more and more likely to become a reality.



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