Three Portuguese banks will take part in the trials of the digital euro, the future electronic version of money issued by the European Central Bank (ECB). Banco Comercial Português (BCP), Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) and Unicre were chosen, alongside Banco de Portugal, among the 36 payment service providers the ECB selected in July 2026 for the pilot. The Portuguese participation agreements were signed on 7 July, in Lisbon. The field testing only starts in the second half of 2027 and will run for 12 months.
What the digital euro is
The digital euro is a central bank digital currency (CBDC), meaning money issued directly by the ECB but in electronic form. Today, the only public money in physical form is notes and coins; the balance you see in your bank account is, technically, a liability of your commercial bank, not of the central bank. The digital euro would be the first form of central bank money you could use on your phone or a card. It is not a crypto-asset open to speculation: according to the ECB, one digital euro would always, and by law, be worth exactly one euro.
The idea gained traction for a mainly strategic reason. According to the ECB's own data, Visa and Mastercard, both American, process most card payments in the euro area, and more than half of national markets do not even have their own digital payment solution. Europe has come to see this dependence on foreign infrastructure as a vulnerability, alongside energy and technology. The digital euro is, above all, an attempt to secure a European payment route that does not rely on companies from outside the bloc.
Paying with the digital euro: what actually changes
For the person paying, the digital euro would not be a new currency, just another way to pay in euros, the same way a banknote and a bank transfer are the same money in different forms. According to the ECB, the concrete differences compared with paying by card or with a banking app would mainly be these:
- It would be central bank money, not your bank's. It would be the equivalent of holding a banknote, but in digital form, a direct liability of the ECB. The balance in your account today is a liability of the commercial bank where you opened it.
- It would work without internet. You could pay with your phone or a card even with no signal, with the value stored on the device itself. A card payment almost always needs a connection to be authorised.
- It would be more private. The ECB says it would not identify who pays or who receives each payment, and that in an offline payment only the two parties would know the details, as with cash. In online payments, your bank could still identify you, as required by anti-money laundering rules.
- It would be free for basic use. Opening an account, holding funds and paying would carry no cost for individuals, according to the ECB and the draft law.
- It would cap how much you can hold. To avoid draining commercial banks, there would be a per-person ceiling (the figure under discussion goes up to €3,000) and the balance would earn no interest. To pay above that limit, the money would come from your linked bank account.
What Portugal will do in the pilot
The pilot will use a beta version, a working prototype very close to the final product, but still without legal tender status, meaning no one is obliged to accept it. Those testing it are staff of the ECB and the national central banks, plus a few e-commerce merchants and everyday businesses, such as cafeterias and canteens based at those banks' premises. Payments between individuals and from individuals to shops, both in person and online, will be simulated.
The three Portuguese participants do not have the same role. BCP and CGD enter as distributors and acquirers: the distributor sits on the citizen's side, to open an account and pay, and the acquirer sits on the merchant's side, to receive payments. Unicre, tied to card processing, takes part only as an acquirer. Banco de Portugal is one of the 19 national central banks involved.
Demand was high. Following a call launched in March 2026, the Eurosystem, which brings together the ECB and the central banks of the euro countries, received more than 50 applications and chose 36 providers. "Strong market interest shows the private sector's readiness to help advance the digital euro and strengthen European payments," said Piero Cipollone, a member of the ECB's Executive Board.
What is not yet decided
There is a recurring fear that this money could be "programmable", with rules limiting where or when you can spend it. The ECB rejects the idea. It says the digital euro would never be programmable, though it could allow conditional payments, for example paying only on delivery of an online purchase.
Above all, none of this is guaranteed. The project depends on a law still under negotiation. In June 2026, the European Parliament's economic affairs committee approved its position, by 43 votes to 14 with one abstention, but the final agreement with governments is still missing. The ECB will only decide whether to issue the digital euro once the law is adopted, and the first issuance, if it happens, is not expected before 2029.
For now, what exists is a technical test with money that does not yet circulate. Portugal's entry marks the moment the project leaves the drawing board and starts being tried in the field, but the decision to make it real is still to be taken, and it will be as much political as technical.
Sources: ECB, Banco de Portugal, European Parliament.
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