Call for experts to participate in two workshops exploring the role of technical service providers to support market readiness for a digital euro

27 January 2026

In October 2025 the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) announced the next phase of the digital euro project. This phase will include a pilot starting in the second half of 2027, with a view to achieving market readiness for a potential first issuance of the digital euro in 2029. Payment service providers (PSPs) will carry out both distribution and acquiring activities in relation to pilot digital euro services, ensuring that consumers and merchants have access to these services.

In line with current payment market practices, PSPs may choose to rely on technical service providers (TSPs) to support their development efforts. TSPs can deliver synergies for PSPs, reducing costs while helping to deliver robust, efficient and innovative solutions for a digital euro.

The ECB is inviting TSPs that are active in the retail payment industry and established in the European Union (EU) to participate in two expert-level workshops exploring their role in fostering market readiness for a potential issuance of the digital euro. There will be two separate half-day workshops, reflecting the two PSP value chains:

• Workshop 1 on distribution: focusing on TSPs that can support PSPs in distributing digital euro payment services to consumers;
• Workshop 2 on acquiring and acceptance: focusing on TSPs that can support digital euro payment services for merchants and acquiring PSPs.

Applicants should use the attached form by 10 February 2026 to indicate which workshop(s) they wish to attend (distribution, acquiring and acceptance, or both).

The workshops aim to:

• facilitate a stocktake of the current European TSP market supporting retail payment services and assess its capabilities;
• explore which parts of the PSP value chain for digital euro services (covering both distributing and acquiring activities) could be supported by TSPs;
• gather views on how the Eurosystem could help TSPs to facilitate PSPs’ market readiness for the digital euro.

Participants will be invited to share their views on these topics and a summary of the outcome of each workshop will be published, together with the list of participants.

The workshops are scheduled to take place in early March 2026 and will be held at expert level together with ECB staff. Should interest exceed the ECB’s premises’ capacity, the number of attendees may be limited to ensure the workshops are effective and interactive.

Participants will be selected based on a structured assessment of the applications received. In particular, this assessment will take into account:

• the relevance of the applicant’s activities to retail payment services in the EU;
• the applicant’s experience in supporting PSPs with distribution and/or acquiring activities;
• the applicant’s technical capabilities in relation to the provision of digital euro services;
• the applicant’s geographical coverage and contribution to a representative mix of EU countries;
• the applicant’s ability to support a range of different PSP profiles.

Some criteria may exclude the applicant from attending (for example, if they are based outside the EU), while others will be assessed on a comparative basis. The ECB will aim to ensure a balanced and representative group of participants across both workshops. Selected participants will receive a formal invitation to the relevant workshop(s).

If you have any questions, please contact digitaleuro-pilot@ecb.europa.eu.

Background to the workshops

On 28 October 2025 the ECB’s Governing Council decided to move to the next phase of the digital euro project, advancing technical readiness and launching pilot activities. The final decision on whether to issue a digital euro will be taken only once the relevant EU legislation has been adopted. In 2026 the Eurosystem will launch a call for expression of interest, inviting European PSPs to participate in a digital euro pilot during the second half of 2027. These two workshops with TSPs will inform the piloting activities.