ECB Chief Says Digital Euro CBDC Will Be Here By October 2025. Who Are The Potential Winners?

ECB President Christine Lagarde is pushing for the digital Euro to become a reality by October 2025.

A European central bank digital currency could soon become a reality. In a press conference on April 17, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde stated that the digital Euro could be launched by October 2025.

Lagarde called the digital Euro, a CBDC to be issued by the EU’s central bank, “critically important” and “more imperative now than ever before.”

The deadline for us is going to be October of ’25, and we are getting ready for that deadline. But we will not be able to move unless the other parties—the stakeholders, as I call them: Commission, Council, and Parliament—actually complete the legislative process, without which we will not be able to move.

While the move has previously faced resistance from member countries, the project has the backing of key payment providers, banks, and fintech companies. These will likely be the biggest winners if the project takes effect.

The digital Euro is a type of central bank digital currency that enables instant payments across its networks. While similar to cryptocurrencies, it has several important distinctions. For one, payments and wallets will be under the direct control and supervision of the ECB.

This raises privacy concerns, but also ensures that the CBDC remains fully compliant with regulation. For this reason, banks will be able to use the digital Euro in all transactions. Notably, UniCredit’s CEO has already expressed support for the project and argued that banks should be fully involved in it.

European fintech companies will also be the likely beneficiaries. For one, MONEI is already participating in the ECB’s testing of the digital Euro. The company argues that the payments users make will be faster and more secure.

The system will also enable European fintech companies to tap into the digital payments market, where they have been lagging behind their U.S. counterparts.