# Digital euro

> Digital euro (European Central Bank · co-legislators): Central bank digital currency · COM(2023) 369. Region: Europe. Builds with privacy tech: The regime itself mandates, pilots or funds privacy-preserving technology.

Part of the Soda Labs Privacy Hub regulation map, which reads the instruments
themselves rather than summarising the summaries: https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation

## Key facts

- Entry type: Regulator or standard-setter
- Region: Europe
- Subject: Central bank digital currency · COM(2023) 369
- Authority: European Central Bank · co-legislators
- Stance on on-chain confidentiality: Builds with privacy tech. The regime itself mandates, pilots or funds privacy-preserving technology.
- Tags: digital euro, CBDC, offline privacy, in trilogue
- Canonical page: https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/reg-digital-euro

## What it actually says

A central bank designing confidentiality into money on purpose is the most direct evidence that European regulators do not equate privacy with illegality. The design is two-tier. Online payments are pseudonymous to the Eurosystem, with intermediaries rather than the ECB holding identity. Offline payments are meant to be cash-like: the data stays between payer and payee, with no intermediary or central bank visibility. The EDPB and EDPS pushed for exactly that in their 2023 joint opinion. Critics fairly note that the online tier still leaves a full intermediary-held record, and that holding and transaction caps will decide how much cash-likeness survives. Parliament confirmed its negotiating mandate on 9 July 2026; the ECB targets a pilot from 2027 and possible issuance in 2029.

## The instruments that matter

- **Offline mode**: transaction data stays between payer and payee, with no intermediary or central bank visibility; designed to be cash-like
- **Online mode**: pseudonymous to the Eurosystem; intermediaries, not the ECB, hold identity
- **EDPB-EDPS Joint Opinion 02/2023**: the supervisors pressed for genuinely cash-like offline privacy

## Sources

- [ECB digital euro](https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/digital_euro/html/index.en.html)
- [EDPB-EDPS Joint Opinion 02/2023](https://www.edpb.europa.eu/system/files/2023-10/edpb_edps_jointopinion_022023_digitaleuro_en.pdf)
- [Procedure file 2023/0212(COD)](https://oeil.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/en/procedure-file?reference=2023/0212(COD))

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