According to a document seen by MLex, the European Commission is being asked to draw up a plan for a gradual launch of the digital euro. The plan would cover timing and implementation and become part of the regulation governing the currency. EU lawmakers are aiming to agree the law before the ECB's projected issuance in 2029. A phased approach means the new payment method would not appear everywhere at once.

What it means: The idea of a staggered rollout for the digital euro makes sense for a project of this scale, because switching it on at once in every country, shop and bank would create huge operational risk and strain on systems not yet properly tested in real conditions. If the plan is written into the regulation itself, as the document seen by MLex indicates, banks and merchants would know early in which order use cases will go live and could schedule changes to their systems and tills without rushing. This is, however, information from a document that has not been officially published, and the final form will be decided in negotiations between the institutions, so the details may change. For payment software and terminal vendors, the most useful thing is to watch which use cases are switched on first, for example in-store payments, e-commerce or person-to-person transfers, because that will determine where they need to invest first.

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