In short. On 10 November 2026, ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone told the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee (ECON) that a delay in adopting the digital euro law could postpone the currency’s introduction. Euro-area consumers, merchants and payment service providers would be affected, including the 36 firms selected for the pilot. The ECB’s timeline assumes the Regulation is adopted in 2026: a pilot from the second half of 2027 and a possible first issuance during 2029.
Speaking in Brussels, Cipollone asked negotiators in the ongoing trilogue, the three-way talks between the Parliament, the Council and the Commission, to wrap up the Single Currency Package by the end of the year. Adoption, he said, would give the ECB the “legal certainty needed to complete our preparations for the digital euro”. The alternative, in his words: “a delay in adoption could instead postpone the introduction of the digital euro”. He also warned that delay could further entrench Europe’s dependence on foreign payment providers.
The speech, titled “Cash and the digital euro: two sides of the same coin”, is published in full by the ECB. In it, Cipollone tied the year-end target to the One Europe, One Market Roadmap and noted that 36 payment service providers (PSPs) have been selected for the pilot from more than 50 applicants.
According to the ECB’s digital euro pilot page, the plan is a 12-month pilot starting in the second half of 2027 and readiness for a potential first issuance during 2029. Both steps assume the Regulation is adopted in 2026. The same page states that the ECB will only decide whether to issue a digital euro once the Regulation has been adopted, which makes 2029 a target for a possible issuance rather than a confirmed launch date. Cointelegraph linked Cipollone’s remarks to a “2029 launch”, but the speech itself does not mention 2029; the date comes from the pilot page.
Cointelegraph also reports that ECON approved Parliament’s position on the legislation in June 2026 by 43 votes to 14 and that Parliament adopted its negotiating position in July. According to the same report, ECB President Christine Lagarde announced in October 2026 that she will step down in February 2027, before the pilot is due to begin.
What changes for users and payment firms
Nothing yet. The digital euro does not exist, and the planned pilot will involve Eurosystem staff and selected PSPs rather than the general public. Any app or platform currently offering “digital euro” wallets or tokens is not an official ECB product and should be treated with suspicion.
For payment firms, the issue is planning rather than a deadline: the legal terms they would have to work with are still under negotiation, and the ECB has not said how far its schedule would move if the Regulation is not adopted in 2026.
Ukraine is outside the euro area, so there is no immediate effect on Ukrainian users. Ukrainians living in the EU, and Ukrainian businesses working with euro-area merchants, could come across the digital euro, but only after a launch.
What is not yet known
The biggest open question is whether the Parliament, the Council and the Commission will conclude the trilogue by the end of 2026. If they do not, it is unclear how long the launch would slip, since the ECB has not published a revised timetable. The final legal terms, including holding limits, fees, privacy rules and offline functionality, are still being negotiated. The ECON vote count and the details of Lagarde’s departure are reported by Cointelegraph alone and are not confirmed in the official European Parliament or ECB documents cited in this article.
Sources
- European Central Bank: “Cash and the digital euro: two sides of the same coin”, speech by Piero Cipollone, 10 November 2026
- European Central Bank: Digital euro pilot
- Cointelegraph: ECB warns legislative delays could postpone digital euro launch, 11 November 2026
Checked on 11 November 2026.
