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The digital euro will cost EU banks €4–6 billion over four years
The introduction of the digital euro could cost European banks between €4 billion and €6 billion ($4.7–7.1 billion) over four years. This was stated by Piero Cipollone, a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, as reported by Reuters. According to him, this amount is equivalent to approximately 3% of banks’ annual IT maintenance expenses.
He also said that the creation of the new central bank digital currency, which will exist exclusively in digital form and is being developed by the ECB, is estimated at around €1.3 billion. Operating costs after launch will amount to approximately €300 million, Cipollone added, without specifying whether this figure is annual.
The pilot project, as expected by the ECB, will be launched in the second half of 2027 and will last for one year. Full rollout of the currency is scheduled for 2029.
Banks will be able to offset the costs
According to Cipollone, banks will be able to offset expenses through fees charged to merchants for services related to digital euro transactions. Banks will provide users with mobile applications necessary to make payments in digital euros.
At the same time, banks will not have to deduct from merchant fees the costs they usually incur when working with private payment networks, as the ECB will not charge for the use of its own settlement infrastructure.
The ECB is currently selecting credit institutions interested in participating in the pilot phase of the project.
Merchants will also receive an economic incentive: fees for payments in digital euros will be subject to a cap, which will be lower than the tariffs currently charged by international payment systems such as Mastercard and Visa, Cipollone noted.
Who supports and who opposes the digital euro
The ECB expects the necessary European Union legislation for issuing the digital euro to be adopted this year. The regulator views the project as a tool to preserve the role of public money in the digital economy, unify Europe’s fragmented payment infrastructure, and reduce dependence on payment service providers from outside the EU — in order to protect the bloc’s monetary sovereignty and economic security.
In January 2026, more than 60 European economists and academics sent an open letter to members of the European Parliament urging them to support the digital euro project. In February, the Parliament supported issuing the digital euro in both online and offline formats.
However, the project faces resistance from the banking sector. As previously reported by Financial Times, major European banks, including Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and ING, advocated significantly scaling down the digital euro, warning that it could undermine private payment solutions and lead to deposit outflows. According to ECB estimates, in the event of a массового відтоку вкладників during financial panic, the digital euro could trigger outflows of up to €699 billion from eurozone commercial banks, creating liquidity problems for around a dozen credit institutions.
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