The EU Commission’s June 2023 proposal for a digital euro(1) sets out a framework for a possible new digital form of the euro that the European Central Bank could choose to issue in the future, to complement cash.

The digital euro would be available to the general public. It would be exactly like cash, just in a digital version, the Commission says. Like cash, each digital euro held by consumers would be directly backed by the European Central Bank. It would be distributed to citizens and businesses by banks and other Payment Service Providers (PSPs), but unlike crypto-assets, the digital euro would be central bank money.