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- The European Central Bank is seeking companies to test artificial intelligence applications for a future digital euro, including AI-initiated payments.
- Workshops at the ECB in Frankfurt are scheduled during the first and second quarters of 2027 to develop AI use cases.
- The project remains exploratory and does not mean the ECB has decided to add AI functions to a digital euro.
The European Central Bank is looking for companies and organizations to test how artificial intelligence could be used with a future digital euro, including payments initiated by AI agents and interactions between automated systems.
The work forms part of a new round of the Eurosystem’s digital euro innovation platform. It will examine AI-enabled payment experiences, micropayments and new features inside payment apps while assessing privacy, user control and data protection. The project remains exploratory and does not mean the ECB has decided to add AI functions to a digital euro.
AI Agents and Micropayments Enter 2027 Exploration Track
The ECB’s exploration track will bring together organizations from different industries to examine how AI agents could interact and initiate payments using a digital euro. The work will also cover micropayments and other payment experiences that require fast, automated transactions.
Workshops are scheduled at the ECB in Frankfurt during the first and second quarters of 2027. Participants will develop use cases rather than conduct live consumer transactions, with the ECB potentially publishing findings after the program ends.
January-to-June Tests Will Cover Conditional Payments
A separate workstream will move existing digital euro concepts into prototypes. Participants will test electronic receipts, payments involving multiple senders or recipients, conditional transactions and additional features that payment providers could add to digital euro apps.
Those experiments are scheduled from January through June 2027. Selected participants will build proofs of concept and submit reports explaining the results. Companies, fintechs, payment providers, merchants, public bodies and research organizations can apply to participate until Nov. 9.
Separate 12-Month Digital Euro Pilot Starts in Second Half Of 2027
The innovation work is separate from the ECB’s planned 12-month digital euro pilot. The central bank selected 36 payment service providers in July to participate in that program.
The pilot is due to begin in the second half of 2027 and will test a beta digital euro across person-to-person, online, offline and merchant payments.
The ECB is targeting readiness for a potential first issuance in 2029. Any launch would still require supporting EU legislation and a separate decision by the central bank.
