The European Central Bank has signed agreements with ECPC, nexo standards, and the Berlin Group to use open technical standards for digital euro payment processing.
The agreements allow the ECB to build on established infrastructure rather than develop new proprietary frameworks. The three standards selected cover distinct but complementary payment scenarios: ECPC's CPACE standard supports contactless near-field communication payments between devices and terminals, nexo standards link merchants' systems with payment service providers and acquirers, covering payment acceptance and cash-machine transactions, and Berlin Group standards enable alias-based payments alongside balance checks, reconciliation, and in-app merchant payment initiation.
Addressing Europe's standards gap
According to the official press release, the rationale for the agreements is partly structural. Europe currently lacks a universally available open standard supported across payment terminals, and depends heavily on proprietary standards controlled by international card schemes and global digital wallet providers. Through the process of adopting widely used European open standards, the ECB aims to reduce adoption costs for market participants and create a uniform user experience across the euro area.
The practical implications extend beyond the digital euro itself. Under this approach, a national card scheme could, for instance, expand into point-of-sale (POS) environments in other markets without requiring technical upgrades to POS terminals, a barrier that has historically constrained the geographical reach of smaller European payment schemes.
The standards were selected in cooperation with market participants represented in the Rulebook Development Group, and are aligned with the goals of the Eurosystem payments strategy. The ECB also noted that additional standards may be adopted in the future, subject to approval by its Governing Council.
Regulatory milestone still pending
The full commercial impact of these agreements remains contingent on legislative progress. The benefits will materialise ahead of digital euro issuance only once EU co-legislators adopt the digital euro Regulation. Passage of the Regulation would confer legal tender status on the digital euro across the euro area, giving payment solution providers a firm basis for scaling operations beyond national borders and providing the regulatory certainty needed to justify investment decisions.
The agreements also signal an early-coordination phase designed to reduce friction once that legislative milestone is reached, allowing payment service providers, acquirers, and standardisation bodies to align on technical implementation before formal issuance begins.
