As a digital form of cash issued by the European Central Bank, the digital euro will complement physical cash, which remains key for resilience and inclusion. The digital euro will ensure that all Europeans can pay at all times with a free, universally accepted digital means of payment, even in case of major disruptions.
The digital euro is ensuring resilience and inclusion in digital payments said in an introductory statement Mr Piero Cipollone, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, at the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament, Brussels, 4 September 2025.
„Our previous discussions covered a wide range of issues, including the preservation of access to central bank money, the digital euro’s role as an anchor for monetary and financial stability, the need to safeguard strategic autonomy and the benefits the digital euro would have for various stakeholders.
Today I would like to focus on two dimensions that have received less attention but are nonetheless fundamental for making the euro fit for the future: resilience and inclusiveness. In an increasingly digital world exposed to new geopolitical and operational risks, we must protect the euro’s availability for all Europeans at all times. Article 133 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union reminds us of our shared responsibility to safeguard the integrity of our currency and take the measures that are necessary for its continued use.
Resilience – three features of digital euro
The digital euro would support business continuity in times of crisis by providing additional payment rails on top of the existing private solutions. In other words, by having alternative payment options in place, w would enhance resilience by ensuring that there is always spare capacity in the system.
In terms of resilience, three features of the digital euro stand out.
First, the technical infrastructure for processing transactions will be distributed cross at least three different regions, each equiped with multiple servers. In the event of a regional disaster or cyberattack, this will allow payments to be automatically rerouted, ensuring uninterrupted operations.
Second, the ECB will develop a dedicated digital euro app that will be made available to all and will allow users to switch easily between payment service providers offering digital euro. Under normal circumstances, this fllback option will ensure flexibility. But in the event of a cyberattack on one or more providers, it would quarantee continuity. For example, if a cyberattack cause the outage of a banks’s own app, but the bank’s backend services were still functioning, customers would still be able to access their accounts with that bank through the ECB’s digital euro app to easily switch to a bank that has not been affected by the cyberattack.
This dimension of resilience is on reason why we at the ECB have recommended that the legislation on the digital euro makes it mandatory for payment service providers to support the digital euro app provided by ECB.
Third, the offline functionality will provide an extra layer of security by allowing payments to be made even when internet connectivity is disrupted or cash is hard to access – for example, during a power outage or a natural disaster. It is therefore vital that the legislation ensures citizens can easily and securely access the digital euro offline, including through options such as setting offline payments as the default and automatic funding of offline holdings.
For the digital euro’s practical benefits for inclusion download the full speech here:
Piero Cipollone: The digital euro – ensuring resilience and inclusion in digital payments
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