Digital euros could transform how people make daily purchases. But what is the digital euro, and what’s its purpose? Why introduce it? Is using this currency going to be mandatory? In this article, we’ll address the most important questions about the digital euro, a digitized form of bills and coins that could be available within the next few years.

What’s in this article?

• What is the digital euro project?
  
• Why create a digital euro?
  
• How would the digital euro work in practice?
  
• When will the digital euro be in use?
  
• What are the digital euro’s advantages and disadvantages?
  
• Are the French ready for digital money?
  
• How Stripe Payments can help
  

What is the digital euro project?

Led by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission, the digital euro project aims to create a digital currency accessible to the public (individuals, companies, and governments) within the eurozone. The program is under development.

What is the digital euro?

If the project comes to fruition, the digital euro will exist alongside cash and other payment methods. There would be a digitized version of bills and coins, issued and guaranteed by the central bank.

The ECB doesn’t intend this to replace cash—it aims to provide Europeans with fully cashless checkout options. Buyers will have access to a virtual European currency that is straightforward to use and accessible to all.

Why create a digital euro?

The main purpose of the initiative is to ensure the sovereignty of transactions made in Europe. Two American giants—Visa and Mastercard—now dominate the card payment market. The duopoly accounts for more than 70% of card transactions across Europe.

The introduction of the digital euro is expected to reduce dependence on foreign payment systems, protect the region in times of crisis, modernize its financial infrastructure, and enhance eurozone resilience.

How would the digital euro work in practice?

The ECB and national central banks would issue digital euros, which would be distributed free of charge by commercial banks. To hold electronic funds, you would need to create a digital euro wallet with your financial institution or at a French post office.

Funds could be added to your digital wallet from a linked bank account or by depositing cash. No internet connection would be needed to make payments with digital euros. You’d be able to instantly pay for purchases made in stores, online, or between individuals, throughout all of Europe.

Note that your personal data would not be visible to the ECB.

When will the digital euro be in use?

The virtual euro’s deployment, initially planned for 2027 and 2028, has recently been delayed until 2029. The initiative is currently in the planning stage, which involves establishing regulations for the currency’s operation and implementation. The ECB plans to introduce related legislation by 2026.

What are the digital euro’s advantages and disadvantages?

The digital euro has many benefits. It will:

• Be free to use, and its value would be guaranteed
  
• Provide an additional way to pay that is fast, safe, and electronic
  
• Be available to make payments offline
  
• Be interoperable with the existing banking infrastructure
  
• Protect personal data
  
• Be secure and offer payment tracking (which could reduce the risk of tax fraud)
  
• Eliminate the fees applied for each transaction by non-European providers of credit and debit cards
  
• Ensure the sovereignty of transactions carried out in the region
  

However, there are also drawbacks. It could:

• Be vulnerable to cyber attacks
  
• Enable users’ financial data to be collected continuously
  
• Exclude those who do not have access to virtual technologies
  
• Be subject to a limit in the amount of digital euros held in users’ accounts
  

Are the French ready for digital money?

The French are not yet ready for the digital euro. Adopting it on a large scale poses a significant challenge—consumers appear to be satisfied with existing ways to pay. According to a 2025 ECB report, 58% of European consumers polled expressed reluctance to use digital euros for transactions. It’s key for the ECB to emphasize the importance and advantages of this new payment method to European citizens.

How Stripe Payments can help

Stripe Payments provides a unified, global payments solution that helps any business—from scaling startups to global enterprises—accept payments online, in person, and around the world.

Stripe Payments can help you:

• Optimize your checkout experience: Create a frictionless customer experience and save thousands of engineering hours with prebuilt payment UIs, access to 125+ payment methods, and Link, a wallet built by Stripe.
  
• Expand to new markets faster: Reach customers worldwide and reduce the complexity and cost of multicurrency management with cross-border payment options, available in 195 countries across 135+ currencies.
  
• Unify payments in person and online: Build a unified commerce experience across online and in-person channels to personalize interactions, reward loyalty, and grow revenue.
  
• Improve payments performance: Increase revenue with a range of customizable, easy-to-configure payment tools, including no-code fraud protection and advanced capabilities to improve authorization rates.
  
• Move faster with a flexible, reliable platform for growth: Build on a platform designed to scale with you, with 99.999% uptime and industry-leading reliability.
  

Learn more about how Stripe Payments can power your online and in-person payments, or get started today.