European Central Bank Signs Agreement with Three Standards Organizations to Reduce Digital Euro Access Costs

Deep Tide TechFlow reports that on April 24, according to Cointelegraph, the European Central Bank (ECB) has signed agreements with the European Card Payment Cooperation, Nexo Standards, and Berlin Group to reuse existing open payment standards for digital euro transactions, aiming to lower system access costs for banks, merchants, and payment service providers. The relevant standards cover contactless payments, connections between merchants and payment service providers, and alias-based payments such as those using phone numbers. The ECB stated that this move will help reduce market adoption costs and promote a unified digital euro user experience across the eurozone. Previously, Reuters cited ECB analysis suggesting that the digital euro could impose costs of approximately €4 billion to €6 billion on EU banks within four years.