Key Highlights The European Central Bank plans to launch a 12-month internal pilot for the digital euro in the second half of 2027, paving the way for a potential rollout across the eurozone by 2028 or 2029. A group of 36 payment providers has been selected to test key components, such as merchant acceptance, payments, ...
Key Highlights The European Central Bank selected 36 payment service providers to trial a beta digital euro across 19 national central banks for online and offline payments. Wholesale settlement efforts are advancing alongside retail testing following the September 21 launch of Pontes and the ongoing development of the Appia initiative. A formal public rollout depends ...
Key Highlights The European Central Bank officially launched the Pontes system on September 21, enabling EU banks to settle transactions using a digital euro and blockchain technology, with a full digital euro pilot targeted for mid-2027. Axology has deployed a private network built on open-source XRP Ledger code that connects to Pontes, allowing tokenized securities ...
Key Highlights ECB President Christine Lagarde personally lobbied Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to block Binance’s MiCA license application, overriding Greece’s own finance minister and independent regulator. Binance’s application had cleared all technical reviews and the mandatory 40-day assessment period without objections before political intervention halted the process in mid-June. Binance has withdrawn its Greek ...
Key Highlights ECB President Christine Lagarde personally intervened to halt Binance’s MiCA license approval in Greece, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The intervention was reportedly motivated by concerns that Binance’s stablecoin operations could undermine the ECB’s Digital Euro project, slated for a 2027 pilot and 2029 launch. Binance withdrew its Greek application in ...
Europe’s Capital Shortfall: The €750–800 Billion Investment Gap European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently told French business leaders that trillions of euros in household savings held in bank accounts are sitting idle. She argued that Europe needs to put these savings to work for its companies. Her concern reflects a genuine structural issue: ...