ECB publishes progress report on digital euro and study on possible features of a digital wallet

The ECB has released its third Progress on the investigation phase of a digital euro, which includes design and distribution options endorsed by the ECB’s Governing Council.
The report specifies the aim of the digital euro, which would be accessible to euro area residents, merchants, and governments, as well as non-resident euro area citizens who hold an account with a euro area-based PSP. In addition, the report anticipates potential cross-currency functionalities with other central bank digital currencies. The ECB proposes that the digital euro be distributed via PSPs, and supervised intermediaries would be required to provide a set of mandatory core services to end-users.
Furthermore, a commissioned Study on Digital Wallet Features was published. It analyses focus groups evaluating people’s views on specific features of a potential digital wallet, finding that person-to-person money transfers, offline payments, budget management tools, and conditional payments were valued by participants. The study was conducted in all euro area countries from December 2022 to January 2023 and included members of the general public, people with technology knowledge, small and large merchants and retailers, and individuals with limited access to banking services or the internet.