What the ECB and the European Commission have actually published: coexistence with cash, legal tender, timeline, and what has not been decided.
What is the digital euro, according to the ECB?
The digital euro would be central bank money in digital form: a direct liability of the Eurosystem, in the same way as a banknote, rather than a claim on a commercial bank. According to the ECB, it would be usable online and offline, throughout the euro area, to pay in shops, on the Internet or between individuals, and its basic features would be free of charge for users. It would be opened through one's bank or a payment service provider, and people without a bank account would also get free access to basic services.
What it is not is just as well documented. It is neither a cryptocurrency nor a stablecoin: the settlement platform would be centralised and operated by the Eurosystem, without distributed ledger technology. And it would never be programmable money, the ECB specifies: the digital euro could not be restricted to a given use or expiry date; only conditional payments chosen by the user, such as a payment released on delivery, would remain possible.
Source : ECB, frequently asked questions on the digital euro.Where does the project stand today?
The project moves forward in public phases. The investigation phase ran from 2021 to 2023, the preparation phase from November 2023 to October 2025. In October 2025, the Governing Council decided to move to the next phase: continued technical work, dialogue with the market and support to the legislative process. A rulebook, which will define the uniform functioning of the scheme across the euro area, was consulted on with the market and reworked in 2026.
The announced timeline is as follows: a pilot project is due to start in the second half of 2027 and to last twelve months, with 36 selected payment service providers; a potential first issuance would not take place before 2029, and only if the regulation is adopted. As of 3 November 2026, the text is in trilogue negotiations: the Council of the European Union settled its position on 19 December 2025, the European Parliament on 9 July 2026, and the Eurosystem expects adoption by the end of 2026. The Governing Council will only decide on a possible issuance once the regulation is adopted.
Does the ECB want to get rid of cash?
Its official answer is no. In its frequently asked questions, the ECB writes that the digital euro would coexist with cash, without replacing it, and that banknotes and coins would keep their legal tender status, usable alongside every electronic means of payment. It points to the ongoing design process for new euro banknotes as evidence of its commitment to physical cash.
On the legislator's side, the movement runs in the same direction. On 28 June 2023, the European Commission presented the single currency package, made of two complementary proposals: one establishes the framework for the digital euro, the other concerns the legal tender of euro banknotes and coins, in order to preserve their acceptance and accessibility across the euro area. The text of the digital euro proposal states it plainly: it should complement the physical forms of the single currency, not replace them.
Sources : ECB, frequently asked questions on the digital euro ; European Commission, digital euro page.What does the proposed regulation provide?
If the digital euro were ever issued, the proposed regulation would give it legal tender status, like cash. It provides for a double obligation: acceptance for merchants who already allow digital payments, and distribution by banks towards their customers. Free basic services for individuals are written into it, as is free access for people without a bank account, with inclusion as the stated goal.
The proposal also addresses privacy, at the heart of the debates. For offline payments, only the payer and the payee would know the details of the transaction, a level of confidentiality comparable to cash. For online payments, the Eurosystem would not be able to identify the users; anti-money-laundering checks would remain with the payment service providers, as is already the case today for cash withdrawals and deposits.
Sources : proposal for a Regulation on the establishment of the digital euro, COM(2023) 369 (EUR-Lex) ; ECB, frequently asked questions on the digital euro.What to take away, as the rules stand?
First, that nothing has been decided or made compulsory: the regulation is not yet adopted, issuance is not decided, and cash remains. Second, that the legitimate debate, about the resilience of European payments and about privacy, is followed in the published texts, not in rumours. Finally, that the communicated milestones are 2027 for the pilot and 2029 for a possible issuance, still conditional on the adoption of the legal framework.
For the saver, the question is therefore not to flee anything, but to calmly organise the share of wealth that depends on no digital channel at all: a reasonable quantity of cash, physical gold held in your own right, a private safe deposit box for documents and precious metals. A Belgian example of a private vault operator appears at the bottom of this page. And for any tax or inheritance decision, as the rules stand, the reflex remains the notary, the lawyer or the tax adviser.
Frequently asked questions
Will the digital euro be compulsory?
No. According to the ECB, the digital euro would coexist with cash, without replacing it: the stated aim is to offer an additional choice, not to impose a channel. The European Commission's single currency package goes in the same direction, explicitly preserving the freedom to choose between cash and the digital form when paying with central bank money. No obligation to use it appears in the published texts, and issuance itself has not yet been decided.
Sources : ECB, frequently asked questions on the digital euro ; Council of the European Union, digital euro page.Will I still be able to pay in cash if the digital euro is launched?
Yes. The ECB states that banknotes and coins would keep their legal tender status and remain usable alongside the digital euro and private electronic means of payment. The European Commission moreover tabled, on 28 June 2023, a specific proposal on the legal tender of euro banknotes and coins, designed to preserve their acceptance and accessibility across the euro area. The ongoing design of new banknotes illustrates this continuation over time.
Sources : ECB, frequently asked questions on the digital euro ; European Commission, digital euro page.What is the difference between the digital euro and the money in my bank account?
The digital euro would be a direct liability of the central bank, like a banknote: public money. The money in your bank account is, by contrast, a claim on your commercial bank: private money, backed by the deposit guarantee up to €100,000 in case of failure. This is precisely the difference in nature that the digital euro would address in the age of cashless payments: offering a digital form of public money, convertible at par with banknotes and coins.
Source : ECB, frequently asked questions on the digital euro.Is the digital euro a cryptocurrency?
No. It would be issued and settled on a centralised platform operated by the Eurosystem, without distributed ledger technology of the blockchain kind. It has nothing in common with crypto-assets or stablecoins, which are private issuances, without legal tender status, and whose value depends on the soundness of the issuer or its collateral. The digital euro would be central bank money, at constant parity with physical euros.
Source : ECB, frequently asked questions on the digital euro.Will the ECB be able to track my digital euro payments?
According to its published design, for offline payments, only the payer and the payee would know the details of the transaction, as with cash. For online payments, the Eurosystem would not be able to identify the people paying or receiving; anti-money-laundering checks would remain with the payment service providers, as is the case today for a bank account. The final legal framework is still being negotiated between the European co-legislators.
Source : ECB, frequently asked questions on the digital euro.When will the digital euro be available?
The communicated timeline is as follows: a pilot project should start in the second half of 2027 and last twelve months, with 36 payment service providers. A first potential issuance is mentioned for 2029, provided that the regulation establishing the digital euro is adopted, which the Eurosystem expects by the end of 2026. As long as the text is not adopted, the Governing Council decides nothing: there is, to date, no entry-into-service date.
Source : ECB, frequently asked questions on the digital euro.Gold & Silver Company, in Dottignies (Mouscron)
Keeping certain documents or metals outside any digital channel is a distinct option: this private operator in Dottignies (Mouscron) rents safe deposit boxes by the year, without a bank account; an identity document is presented at subscription. Conditions on the official site.