Revolut, UniCredit, Deutsche Bank and SumUp are just some of the companies selected for the pilot, which is set to commence in the second half of 2027.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has chosen 36 payment service providers (PSP) to participate in a 12-month digital euro pilot, according to an announcement released today (14 July).
The financial organisations, which include Revolut, UniCredit, Deutsche Bank, SumUp and Stripe’s European subsidiary, were selected from a pool of 50 PSP applicants, ranging from traditional banks to transaction platforms. The companies come from 16 euro member countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Ireland and Austria.
Interestingly, three of the selected companies – Deustche, DZ Bank and BPCE – were among a group of 14 European lenders that previously voiced reservations about the digital euro, citing concerns such as cost and potentially undermining existing private-sector payments initiatives in the continent.
The digital euro is a proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC) – basically a digital version of an official currency – that was first proposed in 2023. To date, only three countries worldwide have officially launched a CBDC: Jamaica, The Bahamas and Nigeria.
