Testing of the cryptocurrency euro begins in Europe

The European Central Bank will cooperate with five corporations to test a single digital currency (CBDC) within the European Union. Thus, tech giant Amazon will work on a digital euro payment system for e-commerce. CaixaBank and Worldline will be responsible for prototyping P2P payments, while EPI and Nexi will work on retail payments at the point of sale and in the service sector.

Hemos sido seleccionados por el @ecb como el único banco europeo para desarrollar un proyecto de aplicación móvil para pagos #P2P (entre personas) con #EuroDigital.? https://t.co/UzMEua2y6C

— CaixaBank (@caixabank) September 16, 2022

These companies were selected from 54 firms that also expressed interest in developing a digital euro. The results of cryptocurrency testing for the EU will be published next year.

The European Parliament also announced the conditions for launching its own digital asset. Currently, the European Commission does not perceive blockchain as a potentially important technology that can be used at the state level. The agency believes that it is first necessary to prove that the technology is safe and has sufficient bandwidth. Therefore, the EU is inclined to believe that the digital currency will start working no earlier than 2026.

Last week, Changpeng Zhao, the head of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, suggested that the EU legislation on crypto asset markets (MiCA) is likely to be adopted globally as a standard for cryptocurrency regulatory policy. However, the head of Binance expressed some concerns about limiting the issuance of stablecoins pegged to the US dollar. Changpeng Zhao believes that this could lead to their possible ban in the EU.