The Spanish banking sector has set up a working group and proof-of-concept to assess the impact of the implementation of a digital euro by the European Central Bank.
Up to 30 banks, working in concert with infrastructure providers Bizum, Iberpay and Redsys, intend to roll out the PoC with the aim of undertaking an in-depth analysis of the technical, operational and business implications of the digital euro and its co-existance with existing payment instruments.
The project's roadmap envisages that this proof of concept shall be completed prior to the end of 2022, deploying, in a controlled production environment, the various digital currency payment use cases proposed by the Eurosystem.
The tests will include the simulated person-to-person remittance of digital euros, payments in e-commerce and physical commerce payments, based on a model in which, as with the current euro, banks would be the custodians of their customers' digital currency accounts.
The conclusions of the exercise are expected in 2023.