ECB And Eurosystem Set Off Experimenting With Prototype Of Digital Euro Project

The ECB and Eurosystem continue to take a move towards the development of the digital Euro.

Around five banks or other payment service providers would be chosen to participate in its development front end.

CBDCs are not fully free of skepticism, and it is to see how it emerges.

The European Central Bank (ECB) and Eurosystem have initiated to look for companies to take part in an exercise to prototype customer-facing payments services. This signifies that the development towards a digital Euro would carry on.

In an announcement recently released, banks, payment service providers, and other concerned entities were invited to know about their interest in the project.

Project To Roll Out In August and End by Next Year

The ECB and all the national central banks of the countries that utilize the Euro come under the Eurosystem. It highlighted that it would choose up to five front-end providers depending upon their capabilities and the use cases that they present. Although the ones taking part would be new to the service they will prototype, the thing that would be considered would be their prior experience in the selection process.

The prototype facilitators would be expected to develop front-end applications according to the provisions of the existing backend and interface of the system. Furthermore, the existing system would be open to their suggestions and feedback, also on how it can meet the technical needs, they can propose additional value-added services.

Although the participants won’t be getting any pay for their services, they can be indulged in further steps in developing the digital Euro. The project is expected to commence in August and conclude by Q1 2023. And the application deadline for the project is May 20, 2022.

Additionally, the experimentation phase of the digital Euro might end by October 2023, and the Eurosystem Governing Council is also expected to come up with a decision on the development of a real-world digital Eura Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

Also Read: The Bank Of International Settlements (BIS) Has Released The Summary About CBDCs As Well As Its Significance Towards Financial Inclusion For Such Financially Excluded

This is not the first time steps have been taken towards a digital euro. In fact, earlier, the European Commission got a series of feedback from folks who expressed their concerns about government overreach and surveillance.

Similar to cryptocurrencies, CBDCs are not free from skepticism either. The US has also been giving constant thoughts on the digital dollar. In contrast, some countries have already started to adopt them. It is to look forward to how CBDCs emerge worldwide.