Progress on the preparation phase of a digital euro : second progress report

The Eurosystem's digital euro project aims to make central bank money available to the public in digital form. As e-commerce evolves and people increasingly prefer to make payments using electronic means, a digital euro would bring the valued features of banknotes into the digital sphere. The aim of a digital euro is to bring value to consumers, merchants and intermediaries, while reducing Europe's dependence on international card schemes and non-European digital payment wallet providers. A digital euro would complement cash by providing a digital payment option for consumers that is free, safe and easy to use. It would facilitate electronic payments everywhere in the euro area and increase competitiveness in the payments market for merchants. Payment service providers (PSPs) would be able to use the digital euro infrastructure to create new payment services, which would in turn increase innovation and competition in the European payments sector. A digital euro would also help regional and domestic European schemes to scale up the provision of their payment services in commercial bank money to a European scale by using the digital euro acceptance network. It would also expand the offer of private and public means of payment at the European level, thus supporting monetary sovereignty and strategic autonomy.