ECB sets out the digital euro's privacy model ahead of 2029

Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said the Eurosystem will not be able to link individuals to digital euro transactions, and that offline payments will be visible only to payer and payee. What changed In an interview published on the ECB's own site, Piero Cipollone described the privacy architecture the Eurosystem intends to run for the digital euro. Offline digital euro payments would be settled directly between the two parties, with transaction details known only to payer and payee, which the ECB likens to cash. For online payments, the intermediary bank would be able to identify the user, but only for anti-money-laundering purposes, and the Eurosystem itself would not be able to link a specific person to a specific transaction. Cipollone also rejected the suggestion that the digital euro is a step toward removing cash, pointing to the ECB's open consultation on the design of new euro banknotes. The digital euro regulation was approved by the European Parliament in July 2026 and rollout is scheduled for 2029. Civil society groups have argued the guarantees lean on institutional assurances rather than technical enforcement.