The European Central Bank (ECB) has taken a significant step forward in its digital euro initiative by formalizing cooperative agreements with three prominent European organizations responsible for setting payment standards. Announced on April 24, 2026, the deals involve the European Card Payment Cooperation (ECPC), nexo standards, and the Berlin Group. These partnerships aim to incorporate well-established, open technical standards into the digital euro framework, specifically for handling online transactions.
At the center of these agreements is the strategic reuse of existing standards that are freely available to all participants in the payments ecosystem.
The ECPC’s CPACE standards, for instance, enable seamless contactless payments through near-field communication technology, allowing users to simply tap their payment device on a terminal.
Nexo standards focus on linking merchants’ point-of-sale systems directly to the backend infrastructure of payment service providers and acquirers, streamlining processes such as transaction acceptance and automated teller machine operations.
Meanwhile, the Berlin Group’s specifications support payments initiated via aliases—like a mobile phone number—along with features for checking balances and reconciling transactions across smartphones and merchant applications.
By adopting these open frameworks, the ECB seeks to lower implementation expenses for businesses and promote early collaboration among payment service providers, merchants, and standardization experts.
This approach addresses a longstanding gap in Europe, where no single, universally accessible open standard exists for payment terminals.
Instead, the market has long relied on closed, proprietary systems controlled by major international card networks and global digital wallet providers.
Leveraging these European standards is expected to create a consistent and user-friendly experience for digital euro users throughout the euro area.
It will also empower domestic payment schemes to extend their reach beyond national borders—for example, enabling a local card network to operate at point-of-sale locations abroad without forcing retailers to update their hardware.
The advantages of this standardization effort will become fully evident once European lawmakers formally adopt the digital euro regulation.
This legislation would grant the digital euro legal tender status, offering the market the predictability needed to justify long-term investments.
With regulatory clarity in place, European payment providers could scale operations more effectively, reduce reliance on foreign-dominated technologies, and foster greater competition and innovation across the continent.
ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone, who leads the High-Level Task Force on the digital euro, emphasized the collaborative spirit behind the initiative.
He highlighted how these open standards represent a European alternative to proprietary models, lowering barriers for new entrants and giving service providers and merchants the confidence to invest, innovate, and expand.
Representatives from the partner organizations echoed this enthusiasm.
The ECPC’s CEO welcomed the agreement for boosting the visibility of its contactless standard, while nexo standards’ board chair praised the collaboration for reinforcing interoperability in payment acceptance.
The Berlin Group’s secretariat similarly lauded the ECB’s engagement as a boost to a more competitive and interconnected European payments landscape.
These standards were chosen in consultation with industry participants from the Rulebook Development Group and align with the broader Eurosystem payments strategy.
The ECB has indicated that further standards may be incorporated later, pending approval by its Governing Council. The move underscores the ECB’s commitment to building an inclusive, efficient, and competitive digital euro that integrates smoothly with existing European infrastructure while minimizing costs and maximizing accessibility for stakeholders.