The European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks of the euro area countries intend to assume the costs of creating and operating the central digital euro infrastructure.
© Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
06/10/2026
by
Lusa
O ECB does not intend to charge commissions for the system, nor for the processing of transactions with the digital euro, today said Executive Committee member Piero Cipollone, in a video conference organised by the MNI financial agency.
“ The digital euro is also being designed taking into account a sustainable economic model,” he said.
In addition, “banks and payment service providers would receive compensation for the services they provide,” the Italian economist added.
All these details are currently being discussed in the legislative process for the approval of the digital euro, and the European Council has urged that negotiations be concluded by the end of the year.
The digital euro will be a means of payment and not an investment product, so it will not yield interest and there will be limits to the individual amounts that may be held, Piero Cipollone explained.
The ECB proposes that users associate digital euro with a commercial bank account so that they can make payments exceeding the balance in digital euro, covering the difference with funds from that account.
In this way, it would be possible to boost the introduction of the digital euro and reduce individual arrests.
The ECB analysed the effects of hypothetical limits between EUR 500 and 3,000 on the balance sheets of 2,025 banks.
“ The detention limits are effective to contain deposit exits and safeguard financial stability,” said Cipollone.
The ECB analysed two scenarios: continuity and other extremes, where citizens would sell digital euro in a crisis to take refuge in another asset they considered safer, something that did not happen during the first 25 years of the euro.
In both cases, there are no significant liquidity and financing problems in banks.
The ECB calculates a possible deposit entry of EUR 127,000 million by 2034, equivalent to 0.4% of banking sector assets or 1.5% of private deposits.
This value exceeds the expected exits in the continuity scenario for limits up to EUR 3,000 and therefore there would be no aggregate net output.
The liquidity coverage coefficient would decrease from 166% to 163%, with a limit of 3,000 euros, while the aggregate net stable financing coefficient would decrease from 128% to 127%.