- The trained economist Piero Cipollone has been chairman of the Eurosystem task force on the digital euro since 2023, chairman of the Euro Retail Payments Board and chairman of the Euro Cyber Resilience Board for pan-European financial market infrastructures of the ECB.
- On January 15th, he gave an interview to the Süddeutsche Zeitung in which he explained common misunderstandings about the digital euro and why it is an ideal complement to the well-known euro cash.
- The interview with Piero Cipollone was conducted on January 15, 2026 by Meike Schreiber and Markus Zydra for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Reprinted here with the kind permission of the European Central Bank.
Mr. Cipollone, if you were to explain to us in 20 seconds what the biggest advantage of the digital euro is – what do you say?
Quite simply: it is uncomplicated. You can use it everywhere – in Germany and throughout the euro area.
Even in a small French bakery somewhere in the country and if I don’t have a smartphone?
Yes, all merchants who accept digital payments today will be obliged to accept the digital euro in the future. And the traders will be satisfied because the fees will fall significantly – after all, the ECB provides the infrastructure.
But do I really need a digital euro for this? I can also pay by card or cash.
Naturally. But you can’t pay digitally with cash, e.g. B. when shopping online. In addition, account fees are often incurred when paying by card. The standard functions of the digital euro, however, will be free.
It will be like cash, only digital. We simply create an additional option. Coins and notes remain the same and no one is forced to switch.
Where is my digital money?
On the Eurosystem servers or on your smartphone. You can also download the digital euro onto a card with the digital euro logo.
And if my cell phone or card is stolen, will my money be gone?
No, the money in your account is safe. If your cell phone is stolen, you could still access your money from other devices. The thief cannot spend it.
The only money on your phone is the money you’ve downloaded into your digital wallet for offline use. Losing your smartphone or card would be comparable to losing your physical wallet – only the money there would be gone.
Of course, you could have your device or card blocked if lost. If they are found, the money stored on them would also be back. However, it is also important that we do not forget the strategic importance of the digital euro.
What do you mean by that?
We are more than just consumers, we are above all citizens of Europe. Doesn’t it give you security if the money you pay with every day is based on European technology – i.e. in European hands and not dependent on third parties?
Why is this important?
Think about them Judge of the International Criminal Courtwho were sanctioned by the US simply for doing their jobs. Their American cards were blocked – and their payment options in Europe were limited because they were blocked by Visa and Mastercard.
With a digital euro, they would have been able to continue making payments throughout the euro area.
After all, there are other bank cards in Germany.
Yes, but international card systems are currently used when a German card is used in other Euro countries or for online payments. And 13 countries in the euro area do not have their own payment system.
In Austria, for example, you can either pay in cash or use US cards. The situation is similar in Spain and Finland.
So what would have to happen?
We need a digital counterpart to cash: the digital euro.
What practical reasons are there for this?
Around a third of all payments are made online these days – and cash simply doesn’t work in online shops. Public money, which currently only exists in the form of cash, does not cover this area, which has become very important in our everyday lives.
And even in the supermarket: If you pay in cash, it often takes longer at the checkout. This is a clear disadvantage for anyone who wants to pay with public money, unless we create a digital equivalent to cash.
That’s why, in addition to the euro banknotes and coins, we also need a digital euro.
What still needs to happen?
The digital euro must be usable everywhere. Merchants must accept it, banks must be able to exchange payments between their systems.
So you need the “pipe” – the payment infrastructure – and the “liquid”, the digital euro, that flows through it. With the digital euro we would get both.
Doesn’t this mean the ECB becomes competition for private providers?
Quite the opposite. With the digital euro we are creating a European standard. Thanks to the shared infrastructure, providers such as the new payment service Wero, an initiative of several European banks, could operate anywhere in Europe.
It’s like a public rail network on which any railway company can run its trains and reach any destination. With such an infrastructure, it will be easier for private European payment system providers to expand their business and offer them everywhere in the euro area.
Also Visa, Mastercard and PayPal? Then the power still remains in America.
Today, US corporations own critical parts of the infrastructure – they can theoretically pull the plug on us. With a European infrastructure, the “rails” would be ours. If one provider were to fail, we would still have enough alternatives in Europe.
Nevertheless, there is a lot of distrust towards the project. Some compare the debate to that about compulsory vaccination. Why is that?
Because of all the misinformation. Some claim that the ECB wants to control how people spend their money. This is nonsense.
But you are looking at “conditional” payments.
Yes, but that has nothing to do with it programmable money to do. Conditional payments expire automatically; the payer sets the conditions. They are already widely used.
For example, if you set up a standing order for your rent, this is a conditional payment because it is time-based – the rent is automatically paid on the same day every month.
With the digital euro, people and businesses will be able to use conditional payments in more ways, such as Automate refunds.
But they could also be misused – for example to block purchases.
No, every single digital euro is fully equivalent and everyone is free to decide how they use it.
Only the payer and the payee can determine the conditions for a payment transaction – for example: “The ticket will only be paid for if the train actually runs.”
Can you block certain purchases with the digital euro?
No. The Eurosystem does not have the authority to block purchases. When a payment is requested, we reserve the appropriate amount but do not track individual monetary units.
To control spending, you would have to mark every digital “banknote”. Then the retailer might say, “Sorry, you can’t use that to buy this product, the money is for food only.”
Like food vouchers after the war?
Neither the ECB nor anyone else will be able to mark digital euros according to this pattern. We only record the payment amount of the transaction as well as the encrypted codes of the payer and the recipient of the money.
But we don’t know who these people are or how they spend their money. You remain anonymous to us.
Many people still fear the “transparent citizen”.
Nobody is forced to use the digital euro. You can also pay in cash or with another means of payment in the future.
Incidentally, the ECB has been operating large systems like this for years TARGET Instant Payment Settlementwhich processes eight to ten million transactions every day – even for countries outside the euro area such as Sweden and Denmark – and has always reliably maintained data protection.
The digital euro should also be able to be used offline, i.e. without an internet connection, as a means of payment. What’s the advantage?
It can be used anytime, anywhere – even in remote areas or during power outages. If you pay offline with the digital euro, not even your bank will know who paid who.
But as soon as you’re online again, will it be recorded?
You can compare it to a wallet: first you have to put money in it, then you can spend it.
But if the money is in your digital wallet, your privacy is as well protected as with cash: If I pay you €100 offline, the transaction will not be recorded. It remains private.
You can then top up your online account again the next time you connect online. So it works almost like cash.
A few members of the European Parliament are skeptical about the digital euro. A pilot project will start in 2027but the introduction of the digital euro is not expected until 2029 at the earliest – and meanwhile pressure from the USA is growing. Isn’t this all going too slowly?
If the laws were in place today, retailers and IT service providers would begin implementing them immediately.
Once the rules are in place, the standards for the digital euro can be made available to everyone. The Retail is getting ready for the digital euro make.
In concrete terms, this means that private European payment system providers can then use the free standards for the digital euro to expand their business even before the digital euro is issued.
But any delay increases our dependence on foreign payment systems.
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