The ECB’s latest report on the project says that a digital euro could be made available through current banking apps or a separate app for the Eurosystem.
Even though there hasn’t been a final decision on whether or not to issue a digital euro yet, the ECB has been busy looking into different options ahead of a possible launch, which wouldn’t happen until at least 2026.
The first versions of a digital euro would be available to people living in the euro area, businesses, and states. Citizens of the euro area who don’t live there could also use it if they had an account with a payment services company in the euro area.
In future releases, people from certain third countries may also be able to use it. The success report also talks about the possibility of cross-currency features with other CBDCs.
The digital euro could be made available through current banking apps or through an app made by the Eurosystem that would serve as a single point of entry for PSPs’ basic payment functions.
Banks would have to give end users a set of needed core services, but they could also offer extras like conditional payments or the ability to split person-to-person payments between more than two people.
Focus groups held by the ECB in every euro area country show that people think P2P payments are an important trait.
Offline payments are also seen as a useful trait, like when a person doesn’t have a lot of Internet access. Participants also like tools for managing their budgets and fees based on certain conditions, such as payment on delivery and pay-per-use.
