On the path to a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for the 20 members of the euro area, the ECB has created an innovation platform for cooperation with market participants. The aim of the initiative was to identify key use cases and test them on a technical infrastructure.
At the end of September 2025, the ECB published its final report. It provides a comprehensive overview of the insights gained by the innovation platform on the digital euro.
msg for banking participated in the innovation platform with an interdisciplinary team of ten experts. Our focus was on the conditional payment use case. This use case illustrates how payments could be linked to conditions and processed automatically in the future. This would make it possible, for example, for payment for a delivery to only be released and reach the merchant once the delivery has arrived at the customer's address and the customer has confirmed receipt. The use case we developed and tested was implemented on the Digital Euro Service Platform (DESP) provided by the ECB and provides valuable insights into how a digital euro can be technically mapped and integrated into existing processes.
The results have also already been incorporated into the scientific discourse: at the Bocconi conference ‘The Future of Payments-CBDC, Digital Assets and Digital Capital Markets’ in Milan, the findings of all partners participating in the innovation platform were presented and discussed. Jan Haas, Lead Business Consultant, and Daniel Geierhaas, Senior Business Consultant, participated on behalf of msg for banking.
The ECB's final report marks an important intermediate step in the development of a possible digital euro and provides a sound basis for the next phases.
You can find more information about our Payments service portfolio here.