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EU policymakers have taken a key step toward a new form of central bank money, as political agreement crystallizes around the digital euro project and its dual online‑offline design. Council position clears way for negotiations The European Union has approved its formal stance on legislation enabling the European Central Bank to issue a digital form of the euro, including an offline version that works without internet access. However, the move, announced in a document released on Friday, does not yet authorize actual issuance. Instead, the Council position opens the door to detailed talks with the European Parliament, sharpening long-running debates over privacy, resilience, and political oversight. Moreover, the text confirms that any launch would feature both online and offline payment options from day one. EU officials argue that this two-track architecture is designed to keep central bank money relevant in an increasingly digital economy, while preserving key attributes traditionally linked to cash. That said, the political focus remains firmly on how privacy and control will be balanced in practice. ECB groundwork and offline architecture On the technical side, the ECB has completed most of its preparatory work after a two-year investigation phase that ended in October 2025. During this period, central bank teams and industry stakeholders assessed design choices for both online and offline payment rails. Much of the public debate now centers on the offline option and its privacy implications. Under the ECB’s current concept, offline payments would allow two users to transfer digital euro tokens directly between certified devices, such as smartphones or smart cards, with transaction details visible only to the payer and payee. Only the funding and defunding operations of an offline wallet would be recorded in back-end systems. According to the central bank, this structure should offer a level of confidentiality comparable to cash for…

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Filed under: News - @ December 23, 2025 4:28 pm