On 30 October the European Central Bank named the two network service providers that will connect payment service providers (PSPs) and national central banks to the digital euro service platform. A PSP offering digital euro services will be able to connect through either. A grouping of Nexi Payments and Deutsche Telekom Business Solutions has been under contract since 28 September 2026, initially for pilot connectivity. A grouping of Telefónica and Indra follows, with a contract that starts in May 2027.
For a bank, that fixes who will carry traffic between its systems and the platform, and from when.
Where things stand
In July the ECB selected 36 PSPs for the pilot from more than 50 applications. The pilot is due to start in the second half of 2027 and to run for 12 months, and the pilot digital euro will not have legal tender status.
The law is not in place yet. The Council of the EU agreed its negotiating position in December 2025, and the European Parliament confirmed its negotiating mandate on 9 July 2026 (procedure 2023/
The ECB says it aims to be ready for a potential first issuance during 2029, assuming the regulation is adopted by the end of 2026. Both network providers are to be ready as of 2029 to provide connectivity for a potential issuance, subject to the ECB Governing Council's decision on the next phase of the project.
If the timetable holds, a pilot that starts in the second half of 2027 runs into 2028, and a first issuance could follow during 2029.
What the Eurosystem builds, and what stays with you
The ECB's procurement shows the split. In October 2025 it announced framework agreements for five digital euro components: alias lookup, risk and fraud management, an app and software development kit (SDK), an offline solution, and secure exchange of payment information. The network contracts add the connectivity layer.
According to the ECB's pilot FAQ, distributing PSPs give users access "through the Eurosystem-provided digital euro app or via integration in the PSP's proprietary app", and liability stays under the PSP's own terms and conditions and the applicable legal framework. The ECB's general FAQ adds that PSPs would be able to identify users to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) rules, and that for offline payments the distributing PSP would carry out AML checks when users fund and defund their offline holdings, as with cash withdrawals and deposits today. On our reading, onboarding and customer support stay with you as well, whichever app your customers use.
The first decision: your app or the Eurosystem's
On our reading of the FAQs and the network contracts, the back end stays with you on either route: funding and defunding with the AML obligations attached, and the connection to the platform. The app decision sets the size of the front-end work.
The Eurosystem app is the lighter route, and every digital euro payment then happens outside your own interface. Integration into your app keeps the customer in your product, at the cost of a larger programme: new payment flows in the app, and more to test and certify.
For retail banks whose mobile banking app is the main channel, we expect integration to win. The planning question then becomes how: with the SDK the Eurosystem has procured, directly against the platform interfaces, or with a technical service provider, which the pilot FAQ allows for certain functions such as acquiring. The FAQ also says the technical interfaces to the platform are intended to remain stable over time.
Six workstreams for the roadmap
The pilot FAQ lists four use cases: online person-to-person (P2P) payments using an alias or a digital euro access number (DEAN); offline P2P payments over NFC, without internet; online in-store payments over NFC to a merchant's SoftPOS app; and e-commerce and m-commerce payments authorised in the payer's app. Use them as the scope of a first release. Six workstreams sit behind them. On our reading, workstreams 1, 2 and 6 apply whichever app you choose.
1. A new account type
The digital euro holding is separate from the current account, and users would only be able to hold a limited amount. At the co-legislators' request, the ECB has tested hypothetical holding limits of up to €3,000 per person. No actual limit has been published, and the ECB will announce the pilot's limits closer to its launch.
2. The link to the current account
The ECB describes linking the digital euro account to a bank account so users can pay or receive more than the holding limit, with any shortfall or overflow covered instantly, provided the linked account has the funds. In practice that means real-time funding and defunding between two ledgers, with AML compliance built into the process. The work sits in core banking as well as in the app.
3. Aliases and DEANs
Online P2P payments in the pilot use an alias or a DEAN, and the mobile phone number is the only alias type the pilot supports. Plan how your app registers and deregisters aliases through the Eurosystem's alias look-up service, and how that fits your existing customer data.
4. Offline
Offline payments are made from a balance the user funds in advance, and only the payer and the payee would know the personal details of an offline payment. That is a different security and support model from online banking. Check the offline flow in the ECB's pilot material against the devices you support before fixing the scope.
5. Acceptance
If you also serve merchants as an acquirer, the pilot uses SoftPOS over NFC in store, and at online checkout the payer authorises the payment in their own app. Only one-off payments initiated by the payer are supported in the pilot. Merchants in the e-commerce and m-commerce use case need a checkout option that only pilot participants can access, such as a dedicated checkout shown after sign-in.
6. Connectivity and certification
You can connect to the platform through either network provider. The pilot FAQ describes a development phase that covers onboarding to the platform, integration, user testing, back-end certification and end-user onboarding. Plan it as a separate track with its own lead time.
Scoping digital euro work in your own app?
WislaCode builds mobile banking apps and the payment integrations behind them for banks and fintechs. Bring your app, your core banking and the four pilot use cases, and we will go through the gaps with you.
Build for change
The regulation is still under negotiation, so holding limits, fees and parts of the scope may change. The pilot FAQ says the Eurosystem aims to make investments made for the pilot reusable in later phases where possible, and that many of the specifications are based on publicly available European standards. That points to treating the digital euro as one more payment rail behind a common integration layer.
In practice:
- Keep digital euro holdings out of the core account ledger, and give funding and defunding a clean interface of their own.
- Drive limits, fees and feature availability from configuration and feature flags, so a rule change does not need an app release.
- Make the alias, the DEAN and offline funding and defunding first-class objects in your customer data model.
- Reuse what you already run, such as strong customer authentication and device binding.
What to do in the next two quarters
Outside the pilot:
- Take the app decision at executive level: it sets how much of the customer experience you keep.
- Run a gap assessment of core banking, the mobile app and the payments hub against the four pilot use cases and the six workstreams above.
- Put a line in the 2027 budget: if the regulation passes, banks that distribute the digital euro will need the same building blocks.
Sizing the work for the 2027 budget?
Talk to the engineers who would build it: app, core banking and the integration between them.
When does the digital euro pilot start?
The ECB plans to start the pilot in the second half of 2027 and run it for 12 months, with 36 PSPs selected in July 2026. The pilot digital euro will not have legal tender status.
When could the digital euro be issued?
The ECB aims to be ready for a potential first issuance during 2029, assuming the regulation is adopted by the end of 2026. At the end of October 2026 the regulation had not been adopted, and the Council and the European Parliament were still negotiating.
Which network providers will connect banks to the digital euro platform?
The ECB named two groupings on 30 October 2026: Nexi Payments with Deutsche Telekom Business Solutions, under contract since 28 September 2026, and Telefónica with Indra, from May 2027. A PSP offering digital euro services can connect through either. Both are to be ready as of 2029 for a potential issuance, subject to the ECB Governing Council's decision on the next phase of the project.
Do banks have to use the Eurosystem's digital euro app?
Not in the pilot. A distributing PSP can give users access through the Eurosystem-provided app or integrate the digital euro into its own app. Either way, the ECB's general FAQ says PSPs would identify users for AML compliance, and for offline payments the distributing PSP would carry out AML checks during funding and defunding.
What will the digital euro holding limit be?
No limit has been published. At the co-legislators' request the ECB tested hypothetical limits of up to €3,000 per person, and it will announce the pilot's limits closer to the pilot's launch.