The recruitment targets two specific areas: ATM operations and card payment terminals used in stores.
Crypto News
The European Central Bank announced Thursday it is seeking outside specialists to help write the technical rules that would govern how a potential digitaleuro functions in everyday retail payment settings. The recruitment targets two specific areas: ATM operations and card payment terminals used in stores.
The ECB has not yet decided to issue a digital euro. ECB President Christine Lagarde stated in December that the bank had finished its technical and preparatory work on the project. She said the next step rests with political institutions. The initiative is currently under review by the European Council and the European Parliament. If those bodies approve the necessary legislation and the ECB's governing council decides to proceed, a rollout could come by 2029.
The first working group will define how ATMs and point-of-sale terminals handle digital euro transactions. Its scope includes how devices connect to the payment system, how offline transactions would work, and how existing payment standards could accommodate the new currency. The group's output would be aimed at ensuring consumers can use a digital euro at a checkout counter or withdraw it from a cash machine anywhere in the eurozone.
The second group will develop a certification process for the tools and infrastructure used to accept digital euro payments. That framework would establish how providers test and verify systems before those systems are approved for use in retail payment networks.
Work is advancing on the digital euro rulebook even as political approval remains pending. The ECB has framed its expert recruitment as groundwork rather than a commitment to launch. The bank is building the technical architecture in anticipation of a legislative green light rather than in response to one.
Meanwhile, a separate effort is underway from the private sector. Twelve European commercial banks, including BBVA, ING and BNP Paribas, have formed the Qivalis initiative. The group plans to release a euro-pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026. Qivalis is designed to enable blockchain-based euro payments without relying on dollar-backed tokens, positioning the project as an alternative to both the ECB's potential CBDC and existing dollar-denominated stablecoins.
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