The European Central Bank has launched a new phase of its digital euro innovation programme, inviting payment providers, fintechs, merchants, technology firms and public institutions to help shape the future of Europe’s digital currency ecosystem.
The initiative is divided into two workstreams: experimentation and exploration.
The experimentation stream focuses on electronic receipts, multi-payer and multi-payee transactions, conditional payments and advanced front-end payment features.
The exploration workstream will examine emerging technologies including the role of artificial intelligence in payments — AI agents, machine-to-machine transactions, micropayments and AI-enabled payment experiences — while remaining aligned with privacy, trust and user control principles.
Applications close 9 November 2026. The experimentation phase runs January to June 2027.
Participants will develop proofs of concept using dedicated testing environments provided by the Eurosystem.