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In the first quarter of 2024 the digital euro scheme’s Rulebook Development Group (RDG)[2] concluded a review of the first draft of the rulebook (version 0.8), having received and carefully assessed around 2,500 comments. Seven new RDG workstreams, composed of market participants and central banks, were launched in May 2024. These are focusing on key areas of the rulebook, including minimum user experience standards, risk management and implementation specifications. The next draft of the rulebook is expected to be finalised during the digital euro preparation phase and will include comments from the RDG interim review. The rulebook is essential to ensure that digital euro payments are accepted throughout the euro area, just like cash payments, and will work in a harmonised manner. The draft digital euro rulebook will be sufficiently flexible to accommodate any future adjustments and will be updated in accordance with the outcome of the digital euro legislative process.
The project team has made progress on the sourcing procedures for selecting potential providers for a digital euro service platform (DESP). An invitation to tender for external components was published and offers are currently being assessed. In addition, Eurosystem national central banks have been invited to submit offers for internal components.
Building on work carried out in the investigation phase, further experimentation and user research activities have now started, with the aim of gathering actionable insights into user preferences and informing decision-making. User research fieldwork started in September, the results of which will be published in mid-2025. Innovation partnerships with stakeholders, announced in a call in October, will test conditional payments and explore other innovative use cases for the digital euro, with an outcome report expected to be published in July 2025.
Work has also progressed on the design of a digital euro, specifically on (i) the calibration of the digital euro holding limit and (ii) the deployment of the offline digital euro solution on the secure elements of mobile devices. The digital euro holding limit was discussed in a technical session with member associations of the Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB[3]) on 16 July 2024, who shared their views on the factors influencing its calibration. In parallel, deployment options for an offline digital euro were identified and potential roles for the Eurosystem were outlined. Technical talks were conducted with mobile device manufacturers and specialised technical service providers in October 2024.
Extensive engagement with internal and external stakeholders has been a key focus. The ECB has been actively engaging with the public, market stakeholders and policymakers to ensure the digital euro meets the needs of all stakeholders, and with co-legislators to support the legislative process. Public communication efforts continued to focus on raising awareness about why a digital euro is needed and explaining its potential benefits for users. Market engagement took place through the ERPB technical sessions, the RDG and bilateral interactions, including meetings with the banking sector, merchants and consumers. Areas of focus in market engagement included the methodology for calibrating the holding limit and the fit of the digital euro in the payment ecosystem. At the technical level, the ECB has also engaged with European payment schemes and solutions and is talking to various international central banks about their respective progress in the area of central bank digital currency. The ECB continued to provide technical expertise in the context of legislative discussions with both the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. Executive Board member Piero Cipollone took part in a public exchange of views on the digital euro at the meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee of Economic and Monetary Affairs on 23 September. The ECB also provided an update on the digital euro project to the Eurogroup in October 2024 and continues to extensively support the legislative debate at the technical level....
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