On 14 July the ECB announced which 36 payment service providers will join the digital euro pilot - chosen from over 50 applicants to the call from March 2026. The pilot starts in the second half of 2027 and runs for 12 months. For now it's a beta. Not legal tender.
- The ECB picked 36 payment service providers (banks and non-bank institutions) from over 50 applicants to the March 2026 call.
- The pilot starts in the second half of 2027 and runs for 12 months - technical functions, processes, user experience.
- Names of the specific participants haven't been disclosed - only general characteristics by size, model and geography.
The ECB has finished the selection for the digital euro pilot. Applications opened in March this year - a call to payment service providers, banks and non-bank institutions, to join a test of the new infrastructure. Over 50 responded. 36 were picked - in a dual role: some will give users access to digital accounts, others will process payments at merchants.
Slow down the excitement. 2027 sounds close, until you count what has to happen before it - integration into the systems of 36 separate institutions, a real test with users, then an honest reckoning of whether the result justifies the next step. Twelve months of testing doesn't mean it launches on month thirteen. The digital euro has been collecting postponed deadlines for years. This selection is a real step. Just a step - the start is still far ahead.
There's a real Bulgarian thread here. The rail you and Bulgarian merchants will probably be paying on in a few years is already being poured - right as Bulgaria joins the euro area and the BNB becomes part of the Eurosystem. Which of ours will be among the 36, we don't know yet, no names. But the infrastructure is being built now, years before the digital euro is legal tender.