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Progress on the preparation phase of a digital Euro - Third Progress Report

The ECB has also made further progress on the design Of the digital euro. An accessibility Strategy is being defined for the digital euro app to ensure that it is accessible to everyone, including people With physical disabilities, low digital skills or learning impairments. The ECB has developed user journeys and user experience guidelines to ensure a consistent and intuitive interface across both the digital euro app and the apps Of participating payment service providers (PSPs).

The offline functionality Of the digital euro should enable consumers to continue making payments even in emergency situations such as network outages. The ECB has made significant progress in its analysis for the offline functionality. As the procurement process nears completion, efforts have focused on defining the necessary secure environment and specific features such as automated funding and assessing their potential impact. Until now automated funding has primarily explored tor online use cases and has yet to applied in offline scenarios. It would offer a more seamless experience for consumers. eliminating the need for them to worry about technical details.

The importance of utilizing a highly secure offline payment environment have been more clearly outlined. Functionality. this environment should go beyond merely supporting cryptographic operations and key storage — it must also be programmable. updatable and capable of ensuring atomicity to prevent inconsistencies in the event of a power outage. From security stand point, it should be tamper-resistant and robust to withstand any plausible attacks that could compromise the payment process.

The ECB is assessing the resilience measures that the digital euro's offline functionality should include to remain operational during a payment network outage, starting With exploring the feasibility Of enabling users to top up their Offline wallets under emergency conditions. This involves finding a way to transfer funds to an offline wallet outside the usual payments infrastructure if that infrastructure becomes unavailable. The findings from these efforts will help inform decisions on whether to incorporate these capabilities into the final offline solution, in collaboration With vendors

In parallel, the ECB has been working to better understand the needs and desired features Of digital euro users and market participants. In late 2024 the ECB directly engaged With small merchants and vulnerable consumers through in• depth focus groups and individual interviews in every euro area country. The goal Of these activities was to explore the experience 01 these groups With existing digital payment methods, identify the challenges they face and learn how a digital euro could Otter improvements on current solutions. The findings Will be published in the second half Of 2025. In addition, quantitative studies shed further light on What people expect from payment methods and applications, and What would make them consider switching their current preferences.

The ECB has also been working closely with consumer associations to ensure that the voices of under-represented groups, such as minors and people with disabilities, are heard. The goal is to better understand how these groups perceive the current design of the digital euro, team which features they value most and identify ways to address their specific needs and concerns. This collaboration a further step towards designing a digital euro that is inclusive and accessible to everyone. The findings from this research will be published in the second half of

The ECB has also hosted sessions with industry experts nominated by the ROG on subject areas such as latency and dispute management. In sessions market participants provided input the end-to-end latency of transactions flow, helping to inform the development of latency requirements for digital euro transactions. Similarly, expert sessions have increased participants' understanding Of market concerning and — a key in ensuring end-user protection in digital euro transactions.