The digital euro, if it's created, will be available to Eurozone users first through friendly onboarding procedures.
The European Central Bank (ECB) released its third progress report on digital euro strategy on April 24. This time the bank looked at access and distribution options that have been endorsed by the ECB’s Governing Council.
Convenience is easily a priority for access to the potential digital euro. Digital euro users would be onboarded by payment service providers (PSPs) succeeding their established procedures, similar to Know Your Client verification. Initially, euro area residents, merchants, and governments would be onboarded, with consumers in the European Economic Area and selected third countries following in later releases. Services would be available through the PSP’s app or an app handed by Eurosystem.
In-store sales could be carried out with a QR code or touchless technology. Online payments and offline “ functionalities ” would similarly be possible, and PSPs would be able to offer options and value-added services, similar to split or recurring payments. Cross-border functionalities could be added after the digital euro’s launch in the eurozone, the report told.
Related: European Parliament report recommends researching, but not launching digital euro
Conditional payments “ that are instructed automatically when pre-defined provisions are met ” would be possible, but they would not be programmable money “ being utilized solely to purchase specific types of goods and/ or services or to purchase them only within a certain period/ geography, ” which has earlier been excluded from consideration.
The ECB similarly publishes a report on a focus group survey of digital wallet features conducted by consultants Kantar Public. It found budget management instruments and peer-to-peer, offline, and QR code payments were well received. Study participants raised privacy issues, though.
ECB executive board member Fabio Panetta showed up before the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on April 24. “ We'll hold all the required measures to ensure that the digital euro would act as a true public good, ” he reported to the committee. He added:
“People would have no obligation to use the digital euro. But they should always have the option to use it. […] So, it would be more beneficial and convenient for all users if merchants that accept digital payments were obliged to accept the digital euro as legal tender.”
The Eurosystem, which consists of the ECB and Eurozone national banks, is quietly conducting its own study of digital euro distribution. The European Commission plans to propose a rule to establish a digital euro in the alternate quarter of this year.
(DEREK ANDERSEN, Cointelegraph, 2023)