The European Central Bank has picked a group of firms, including Deutsche Bank and Revolut, to participate in a pilot for the digital euro, according to CoinDesk.
The pilot will test a beta version of the central bank digital currency across several payment environments, including online, offline, in-store and e-commerce transactions. ECB and central bank staff will act as users during the trial, which suggests the effort is designed as a controlled test rather than a public rollout.
The selection of a major traditional bank such as Deutsche Bank alongside Revolut, a digital finance firm with broad retail reach, points to the ECB’s interest in examining how a digital euro might function across different types of payment providers. The focus on multiple use cases also indicates the project is intended to assess practicality in both everyday consumer settings and broader payments infrastructure.
Details remain limited in the source material, including the size of the participant group, the pilot’s duration and whether additional firms are involved. The ECB has not, based on the available metadata, disclosed technical findings, policy timelines or any launch schedule tied to the test.
Central bank digital currency projects remain a closely watched theme in markets and payments, in part because they may affect how money is transferred and settled within the euro area. For now, however, the reported pilot appears to be an early-stage exercise aimed at evaluating a beta version under controlled conditions.
CoinDesk reported the development on July 14, 2026.
