The cooperative spirit behind the digital euro

Piero Cipollone, Member of the ECB Executive Board, delivered a lecture at the Annual Meeting of the Federation of Italian Cooperative Credit Banks (Federcasse).

He highlighted the importance of trust and social agreement in money, referencing Aristotle’s concept of “nomisma” as an expression of law. The ECB’s digital euro aims to preserve these principles in a digital context, ensuring public money remains accessible and trustworthy.

The digital euro will be issued by the Eurosystem and distributed through banks, allowing customers to open digital euro accounts and make payments across the euro area via shops, online, or person-to-person, with or without internet connection. It will support open standards for interoperability and work offline, similar to cash.

Banks will manage customer relationships and privacy, with transactions encrypted and only visible to banks for compliance and credit assessment. The digital euro will help banks retain their role in the payments ecosystem, providing new opportunities for innovation and cost savings. The estimated investment for implementation is between €4 billion and €5.8 billion over four years.

The initiative aims to ensure no one is left behind, with accessibility features exceeding legal requirements, supporting vulnerable groups and remote communities. The European Parliament has approved the project, and legislative processes are underway, with the first issuance expected in 2029.

Participation in a pilot project involving 36 payment service providers will begin in September 2027, including Italian operators. The ECB emphasizes ongoing cooperation with banks and merchants to prepare for the digital euro’s launch and ensure a level playing field for all providers.

Drawing on the cooperative spirit of trust and community, Cipollone underlined that the digital euro is a public-private partnership designed to serve communities and strengthen financial cohesion in a digital world.