- ECB invites online and mobile merchants to test beta digital euro payments in a 12-month pilot.
- Merchants must add a dedicated checkout flow and work with an acquiring pilot PSP.
- Pilot PSPs will provide acceptance tools, onboarding, integration guidance, and operational support.
The European Central Bank is bringing its digital euro work closer to a real checkout test. The Eurosystem has opened applications for online and mobile merchants to join its planned pilot.
The exercise will test whether a beta digital euro can fit existing payment journeys without creating excessive merchant friction. Merchants will report on setup work, payment performance, customer experience, support needs, and operational burden.
Digital Euro Moves Into Merchant Checkout
The ECB opened its merchant pilot call on September 15 for e-commerce and mobile-commerce businesses operating across the European Union. Applicants must serve customers in at least two pilot locations and support remote person-to-business payments.
The pilot will use a dedicated checkout where eligible users can select the beta digital euro as a payment method. The payment then moves through an acquiring pilot payment service provider and its technical infrastructure.
If a default payment application exists, the checkout can open it through an embedded app-to-app redirect. Otherwise, users can enter an alias or digital euro account number before opening their payment application.
Users will verify the merchant and payment details before confirming and authorizing the transaction. Both the payment application and merchant website will then provide payment confirmation.
Merchants Face Setup and Integration Work
Participating merchants must provide a dedicated or adapted checkout flow that only pilot participants can access. The payment option cannot be available to the merchant’s wider customer base during the controlled test.
Selected merchants must also establish or adapt a contract with an acquiring pilot PSP. They will work with that provider during onboarding, technical integration, testing, and day-to-day pilot operations.
The ECB says merchant workload will vary by business model, existing infrastructure, and the required level of integration. Platform flexibility and previous experience adding payment methods will also shape the work required.
Merchants will cover their own participation costs, and the pilot provides no subsidy or expense reimbursement. However, pilot PSPs cannot charge merchants fees for payment services they provide under the exercise.
PSPs Will Support Checkout Integration
Acquiring pilot PSPs will provide merchants with payment acceptance solutions, onboarding support, technical guidance, and operational assistance. Technical service providers may also support integration where merchants or PSPs use outside partners.
The ECB selected 36 payment service providers for the pilot in July after receiving more than 50 applications. Some providers will support merchants, while others will serve individual users. Some will perform both roles.
The broader pilot will operate at the ECB and 19 national central banks across the euro area. It will cover online and offline person-to-person payments and several person-to-business payment settings.
The ECB expects the operational phase to start in the second half of 2027. The planned exercise will run for 12 months.
Merchant Feedback Will Test Daily Practicality
During the pilot, merchants will report successful and failed transactions, completion times, cancellations, and repeat acceptance. They will also report technical defects, support needs, reconciliation work, and changes required for acceptance infrastructure.
The ECB also wants feedback on checkout integration, the payment journey, acceptance confidence, implementation challenges, and operational burden. Merchants will identify complexity drivers and assess communication materials used during the test. The ECB pilot FAQ says the exercise uses a beta version of the digital euro. It will resemble the proposed digital euro technically, but it will not have legal tender status.
The pilot does not mean the ECB has decided to issue a digital euro. The ECB says any issuance decision will follow adoption of the relevant European Union legislation.
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