The European Central Bank (ECB) on Tuesday appealed to online and mobile shopping vendors across the euro zone to take part in a digital euro trial while it readies a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) for a potential launch in 2029.
This trial will evaluate the technology, operational workflows, and user interface of a test currency that mimics the digital euro, although it will not serve as legal tender.
The ECB’s invitation to merchants extends past mere technical evaluation. A digital euro requires sufficient locations for spending if citizens are to adopt it, turning merchant integration into a commercial challenge just as much as a regulatory objective.
“Many people think the digital euro’s success will depend on how governments and the public sector explain its usefulness,” Isadora Arredondo, vice president of global policy at Hedera, told CoinDesk via LinkedIn. “But the more difficult part will be making the project work commercially.”
Arredondo noted that vendors would require motivation to participate in adequate numbers and to guarantee consumers face no obstacles during checkout. She suggested that one potential solution involves payment service providers reducing the fees that merchants are charged for processing digital-euro transactions.
This outreach to merchants follows weeks after the central bank chose 36 financial institutions and payment providers to take part in the testing phase. The 12-month pilot is slated to launch in the latter half of 2027, with the ECB aiming for a prospective rollout in 2029, pending legislative approval and a distinct Governing Council verdict.
The experiment will incorporate the ECB, 19 national central banks within the euro zone, and chosen retailers. Personnel from the ECB and national central banks will function as consumers, assessing web-based and disconnected transactions between peers, physical storefront purchases, e-commerce checkouts, and mobile commerce transactions.
Even though the governing legislation for the currency remains unapproved, the ECB continues advancing the initiative because it perceives the rise of commercial USD-pegged stablecoins, such as Tether’s USDT and Circle Internet’s USDC, as a danger to Europe’s financial independence.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/09/15/european-central-bank-calls-for-merchants-to-participate-in-digital-euro-pilot.
