Published the first Digital Euro Innovation Platform report

26 September 2025

Today the first Digital Euro Innovation Platform report has been released, during an event hosted by the Bocconi University in Milan. The main speakers were Piero Cipollone, ECB Executive Board Member, and Evelien Witlox, Digital Euro Programme Director.

In October 2024 the European Central Bank (ECB) launched the Digital Euro Innovation Platform to foster collaboration with the market to test ideas and explore the innovative potential of the digital euro. As part of this initiative, from February to May 2025, the ECB coordinated two workstreams - 'visionaries' and 'pioneers'. The report released today summarises the main results of these two workstreams.

The visionaries focused on ideas that showed how the digital euro could unlock and foster innovation within the euro area. Meanwhile, the pioneers focused on the technical testing of conditional payments, i.e. payments that are triggered only once specific conditions have been met, such as when a parcel is delivered.

This initiative brought together a diverse group of stakeholders - including merchants, banks, payment service providers (PSPs), fintech companies, IT providers, academics and financial institutions - to provide insights into both conceptual and technical considerations of the digital euro.

The digital euro is designed to offer an inclusive, harmonised digital payment experience, and to create a strong foundation for innovation across the euro area, making it easier for businesses to develop new services for users. The digital euro could also be integrated with private payment solutions, giving people more choice and greater convenience.

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