On 28 September 2026 the ECB opened a new digital euro innovation-platform call. Applications close on 9 November at 17:00 CET, with experimentation planned for January–June 2027. Topics include electronic receipts, multi-party transactions and conditional payments. This is a separate innovation call, not a decision to issue the digital euro.
Event / source publication date: 28 September 2026The following is Human Fintech’s analysis
Start with a merchant problem.
For an eligible European merchant, PSP or technology provider, the first task is to choose a customer problem narrow enough to test. A shared purchase offers one example: participants need to know who has contributed and what happens if someone withdraws. The proposal should identify the current failure and define what improvement would look like, rather than begin with a list of technical capabilities.
Useful outcomes might include fewer abandoned group purchases, clearer refund information or less manual reconciliation. Each needs a baseline and a way to observe the same outcome in the prototype. A successful payment demonstration is evidence of connectivity; it does not establish that the customer problem has become easier or cheaper to resolve. Eligibility and programme terms should be confirmed before resources are committed.
Give exceptions equal weight.
An internal test plan should follow the transaction beyond payment confirmation. Cancellation, a partial refund, a missing acknowledgement and a customer complaint can expose gaps that a successful purchase does not. When several parties fund an order, the design needs a clear account of who receives each refund and how the customer understands the result. These are proposed acceptance questions, not claims about final scheme rules.
For a conditional payment, specify who confirms the condition, how long the instruction remains pending and what happens when evidence conflicts. A merchant reporting fulfilment while a customer disputes delivery is a useful hypothetical case. Automation still requires an accountable exception process. The prototype should make uncertainty visible instead of presenting a definitive outcome that the available evidence cannot support.
Decide what the experiment will decide.
Before implementation, agree the minimum data, connected systems and operational roles required for the test. Additional customer information should not be collected simply because a technical interface can carry it. For each field, establish a purpose, recipient and retention approach, with the applicable legal basis reviewed separately. A constrained experiment is easier to evaluate and reduces the number of unrelated assumptions hidden inside its results.
The final assessment should compare the original journey with the tested alternative, including the cost of supporting failed or disputed transactions. Who would operate the service after experimentation, and what volume would justify integration? A credible outcome may be to proceed, narrow the use case or stop. The commercial value lies in reducing uncertainty before a larger investment, rather than treating participation itself as proof of product demand.
White Fintech.
Part VII of White Fintech covers payment businesses, including company structure, risks, compliance and economics. Explore the contents and the free sample.
Complete English edition, PDF + EPUB. Read the first 30 pages free, with no sign-up.