Digital euro: the ECB chooses Nexi and Deutsche Telekom to connect the banks

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The digital euro is a central bank digital currency (CBNC), which would be issued by the ECB itself rather than a commercial bank. The platform that should circulate it does not yet exist. Indeed, the ECB is putting it together step by step.

Friday October 30, the ECB revealed the “network service providers” selected. Their role is to connect banks, payment providers and national central banks to this future platform.

The platform will have several components, which will need to exchange constantly to process payments. Suppliers will also ensure this internal circulation, beyond the simple connection of banks and central banks.

In other words, a sort of telecom operator for payments. Each establishment that offers the currency to its customers will freely choose the network through which it connects, among the two selected by the central bank.

For the general public, nothing visible on a daily basis. However, a digital euro payment will use these channels, just as a card payment uses the Visa or Mastercard networks today.

The first grouping brings together Nexi Payments and Deutsche Telekom Business Solutions, winners of a procedure initiated by a call for applications on August 27, 2025. The second brings together Telefónica and Indra, two Spanish groups who came second in the ranking.

Running secure networks across a continent is the business of telecoms. Deutsche Telekom has been validating transactions on the Injective (INJ) blockchain since March 2025.

Operator deadlines have already been set. The Nexi-Deutsche Telekom duo's contract came into effect on September 28, 2026 and first covers the pilot's connectivity needs. The general public release will come next, if the project is successful.

That of Telefónica and Indra will start in May 2027, from which date the banks will have two networks at their disposal. The agreements remain flexible, with the ECB able to adjust the services according to the needs of the project.

For a real issue of the currency, the two operators undertake to be ready in 2029. The timetable remains conditional, with the ECB Governing Council first having to validate the move to the next phase of the project.

There is no guarantee that this course will be maintained, while the early departure of Christine Lagarde leaves the digital euro under construction for her successor. The European regulation is still awaiting the final agreement of negotiators, before a deadline set for November 5.

Machine-translated from French