ECB picks 5 companies to develop prototype user interfaces for potential digital Euro 

The European Central Bank (ECB) announced on Friday, September 16, that it has picked five companies to develop user interfaces for a potential digital euro. 

The selected companies are: 

• peer-to-peer online payments – CaixaBank
• peer-to-peer offline payments – Worldline
• point of sale payments initiated by the payer – EPI
• point of sale payments initiated by the payee – Nexi
• e-commerce payments – Amazon

According to the ECB, each company will focus on one specific use case of a digital euro.

This prototyping exercise aims to assess how well the technology for a digital euro works with prototypes created by different companies. 

ECB will carry out simulated transactions using the front-end prototypes from the five companies. Then, the Eurosystem’s interface and back-end infrastructure will process these transactions. 

The prototypes will not be used again in later phases of the digital euro project, confirms ECB. 

The five companies have been chosen from a pool of 54 front-end providers who applied for the “call for expressions of interest” prototyping exercise. 

As per European Central Bank, all 54 companies fulfil several “essential capabilities” outlined in the call, while the five chosen providers best matched the “specific capabilities” required for the assigned use case. 

After signing the contract, the selected front-end providers will receive detailed specifications on the Eurosystem back-end and interface prototype. 

Prototype providers are expected to organise the front-end prototype development themselves. Moreover, they will have the opportunity to frequently interact with the Eurosystem for technical clarifications, support, and aligning integration expectations.

“Front-end providers are expected to follow high-level Eurosystem requirements on the provisioning of a use case and the form factor but are invited to propose solutions regarding value-added services. After the start of the development, the Eurosystem will agree jointly with the providers on an integration testing plan,” says ECB

Throughout the development, providers can provide feedback on the Eurosystem interface and back-end infrastructure. The Eurosystem development team will strive to continuously implement changes based on feedback while supporting the prototyping exercise’s goal. 

ECB intends to publish its findings once it completes the testing in the first quarter of 2023.