ECB Asks Online Merchants to Join Digital Euro Pilot Starting 2027

The European Central Bank opened a call on Sept. 15 inviting online and mobile-phone merchants in the euro area to take part in a 12-month test of a beta digital euro. The announcement asks e-commerce and mobile-commerce sellers to sign up as business test users for a pilot expected to begin in the second half of 2027.

The pilot will run inside a controlled payment setup built to copy the main traits of a future digital euro as closely as possible, the ECB said. It will check the technology, the day-to-day operating steps and how the payment feels to use. Staff from the ECB and the 19 national central banks of the euro area will act as shoppers, paying with a trial currency that works like the planned digital euro but carries no legal tender status.

The merchant call is the second stage of assembling the pilot. Weeks earlier the bank picked 36 banks and payment firms to supply the payment services for the test, CoinDesk reported. The Sept. 15 call targets internet sellers specifically. National central banks may separately recruit local shops through their own calls, the ECB said.

Ledger Insights reported the call is aimed at online retailers established in the European Union that serve customers in at least two of the 19 pilot countries. Selected sellers will add the beta digital euro as a payment choice on their websites or apps so central bank staff can buy from them during the trial, according to the outlet. The test covers transfers between people, both online and offline, plus in-store payments and online purchases.

Taking part is voluntary and unpaid. Sellers chosen through the call will sign a participation agreement with the ECB, and they will need to set up or adjust a contract with one of the pilot payment firms that handles card-style acquiring, the ECB said. During the pilot they will switch on beta digital euro payments in remote shopping and help check the payment experience, the operating steps and the core functions.

The ECB said it will grade applications on eligibility rules plus weighted scores for market reach, readiness to operate and fit with what the pilot needs to check. A new set of written questions and answers is already published, and the bank will hold an information session for interested sellers on Oct. 6 at 15:00 CET. Written questions can be sent through a dedicated form up to two weeks before the filing deadline. Applications go to a dedicated ECB mailbox and must arrive by 17:00 CET on Oct. 27, 2026.

Feedback from the test will feed into later design choices. The ECB said comments gathered during the pilot will help shape its specifications and improve the payment path for shoppers and sellers. The bank also stressed that no decision to issue a digital euro has been taken. A final choice can come only after European Union lawmakers adopt the enabling law, and the bank said its preparations will stay flexible until the legislative timetable is clear.

That legislation moved forward this summer. In July the European Parliament voted to start trilogue talks on the bill that would authorize the currency, Ledger Insights reported. Trilogue sessions bring parliament, member-state ministers and the European Commission together to settle a final text. The ECB points to a possible first issuance in 2029, but only if the regulation is adopted and its own Governing Council gives a separate go-ahead, CoinDesk reported.

The push comes as dollar-linked tokens gain ground in Europe. ECB President Christine Lagarde has said the digital euro is needed to protect Europe's monetary sovereignty and cut dependence on dollar-pegged stablecoins such as Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC, CoinDesk reported. The bank treats those private tokens as a threat to its control over money in the euro area.

Merchant sign-up is the commercial hinge of the plan. A currency with few places to spend it will struggle no matter how the technology tests, and the ECB knows the pilot must prove that shops will accept it. Isadora Arredondo, vice president of global policy at Hedera, told CoinDesk that governments explaining the project will not be enough on its own. "The more difficult part will be making the project work commercially," she said in comments sent over LinkedIn.

Arredondo said sellers will need reasons to join in large numbers and shoppers must not hit barriers at checkout. One option she raised was for payment firms to charge sellers lower fees for taking digital euro payments, according to CoinDesk. Fee levels decide whether small sellers bother with a new rail, and the pilot gives the ECB a first look at that arithmetic.

Physical premises already have a role in the test design. The ECB said selected sellers providing everyday services inside its own buildings and those of the national central banks, such as cafeterias and restaurants, will take part alongside the online sellers sought in this call. That mix lets staff try the beta currency at a lunch counter as well as on a phone.

For now the calendar is fixed. The information session takes place Oct. 6, written questions close two weeks before the deadline, and applications must reach the ECB by 17:00 CET on Oct. 27, 2026.