Europe’s response is already taking shape: by adapting central bank money to the digital age, fostering regulated private money in euro, and strengthening our regulatory framework. 

2.1) Central bank money in the digital age: digital euro and wholesale CBDC

Firstly, we need central bank money in the digital world: a digital euro for the general public, and wholesale CBDC for the interbank market. At this stage, the question is no longer whether we should move forward, but how to do so in the most effective way. Success will require close cooperation with all stakeholders.

For European citizens, the Eurosystem aims to issue a “digital banknote” designed to transpose the features of cash to the digital world, while preserving the anchoring role of central bank money. In December 2025, the Council of the EU unanimously supported the project and agreed on a digital euro, covering both online and offline use cases, accepted universally in the euro area, offering a high degree of privacy, and delivered at the lowest possible cost. The digital euro will be complementary to cash, which will remain widely available and accepted. After the vote expected in the European Parliament in July, we intend to run a pilot as early as 2027 and to potentially launch the digital euro in 2029. 

For the interbank market, the Eurosystem is developing a strategy built around two complementary projects. 

Pontesvii addresses immediate market needs. By the third quarter of 2026, it will deliver the first version of wholesale CBDC enabling financial intermediaries to settle DLT-based transactions in central bank money on a Eurosystem-operated DLT platform. It will be progressively enhanced, with settlement finality on DLT and extended operating hours. A first concrete use case is expected by year-end with project Pythagore,viii aimed at tokenising the NEU CP market – the EU’s largest short-term debt market in euros.
The second project, Appia,ix looks further ahead. It will explore, in close cooperation with market participants, the future architecture of an integrated DLT-based financial ecosystem anchored in central bank money. This work should deliver a blueprint for tokenised financial markets in Europe by 2028 and feed into Pontes over time. 

Together, Pontes and Appia form a coherent strategy: meeting today’s needs while building tomorrow’s infrastructures.

2.2) Ensuring a supply of regulated commercial bank money in the tokenised economy

Secondly, bank deposits must also enter the digital world, through tokenised deposits and regulated forms of commercial bank money in euro. While the provision of a CBDC is essential, it is not intended to cover all uses in the tokenised ecosystem. It is also necessary to have a strong and efficient tokenised commercial bank money offer so that the European two-tier monetary system can evolve, while fully preserving monetary sovereignty.

This offer should include tokenised bank deposits, EUR-backed stablecoins issued by banks, and the payment infrastructures to enable multilateral clearing of these commercial bank money tokens, naturally articulated with CBDC. This is precisely where the Banque de France and the Eurosystem intend to act as catalysts: not to substitute for financial institutions, but to support the European financial system in developing this offering swiftly and in a coordinated manner.

2.3) A well-tailored regulatory framework

Lastly, all these innovations must be supported by a well-tailored regulatory framework. This is particularly true for stablecoins, which combine a promise of liquidity with potential run risks, much like money market funds in the analog world. Innovation can only be sustainable if it supports financial stability, monetary sovereignty and consumer protection.

Europe is not starting from scratch on regulation: with PSD2 already in place, and PSD3 to follow, we have built an advanced framework for payments. Europe was also the first major jurisdiction to regulate crypto-assets through MiCA. But this framework must now be strengthened. MiCA only partially addresses the risks linked to a rapid adoption of stablecoins issued by non-bank and non-European actors. We should better regulate the use of non-euro stablecoins for everyday payments, and multi-issuer models, including when the same stablecoin is issued both within and outside the EU.

Finally, rules must be applied consistently across Europe. Regulation cannot be effective if firms can choose the most lenient jurisdiction and then operate across the Single Market. This is why strong European supervision is needed, to ensure a level playing field.

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Allow me to conclude with a few words from Jean Monnet: “Sovereignty withers when it is frozen in the forms of the past.”x To preserve what the euro has achieved, we must allow it to evolve. The future of money will be written in code, but it must still be backed by trust. The task of the Eurosystem – and of the Banque de France in particular – is to modernise central bank money for the digital age and ensure that the euro remains a cornerstone of trust and a driver of European sovereignty.

 

i See Standard Eurobarometer 104 – Autumn 2025
ii Banque de France, (2026). In 2024, French citizens continued to adopt innovative payment methods. Banque de France Bulletin, No. 261/5, February.
iii Bank for International Settlements, (2025). Annual Economic Report 2025, Chapter III, “The next-generation monetary and financial system”, June.
iv ECB, (2025). Report on card schemes and processors, February. Based on 2022 data, the report finds that international card schemes accounted for approximately 61% of euro area card payments, while 13 euro area countries relied entirely on them. These market shares have remained relatively stable over recent years.
v International Monetary Fund, (2026). Stablecoin Shocks. IMF Working Paper, No. 26/44, March.
vi Stablecoins backed by the US dollar account for 99% of market capitalisation. Source: Banque de France (2025), Financial Stability Report. June
vii See ECB website on Pontes.
viii Banque de France (2026). Pythagore project, NEU CP-NEU MTN market modernization | Banque de France
ix See ECB website “Appia – paving the way for a future-ready, integrated financial ecosystem leveraging tokenisation and DLT”.
x Monnet (J.) (1976), Mémoires.