DEA Quarterly Insights: Shaping the Future of Digital Money | Q4 2025

Welcome to the latest edition of the Digital Euro Association's Quarterly Insights! 

This comprehensive blog post presents a concise overview of our association's activities and achievements over the past three months. As we continue to navigate the ever-changing landscape of digital money, this summary highlights our strides in promoting financial innovation, fostering education, and exploring groundbreaking initiatives.

Join us on this exciting journey as we delve into the key milestones and accomplishments that shape the future of digital money!

New Members  

In Q4 2025, the DEA welcomed PayNovus as its newest lite member and Finance Loop as its newest strategic member.

PayNovus is a next-generation electronic money institution, redefining payments across Europe with secure, scalable, and innovative solutions. As a principal member of Visa, Mastercard, and UnionPay, they deliver seamless financial services tailored for businesses and individuals. With regulatory oversight from the Bulgarian National Bank and compliance with EU directives, they ensure trust, transparency, and technological excellence in every transaction. Transforming global payment ecosystems through innovative, secure, and flexible financial technologies that empower businesses to grow and thrive.

Finance Loop has the goal of driving the adoption of emerging technologies in finance, such as blockchains, digital assets, and artificial intelligence. Finance Loop is supporting its members in growing their reach and knowledge concerning finance, investment, and asset management especially across Germany and Europe.

Distinguished People and Public Affairs

The Digital Euro Dialogue: From Policy Debate to Implementation

In December 2025, the Digital Euro Association convened a high-level digital euro dialogue at a particularly pivotal moment for Europe’s digital currency agenda. The event followed the publication of the European Central Bank’s final progress report on the digital euro preparation phase, as well as the ECB Governing Council’s decision to move the project into its next phase. In parallel, the European Parliament published its report on the digital euro legislative proposal, signalling clear political momentum and a shift from conceptual debate towards practical implementation.

Against this backdrop, the dialogue brought together participants from the European Parliament, European Commission, national central banks, supervisory authorities and industry leaders, reflecting the growing need for structured engagement as the digital euro advances from theory to practice. Discussions addressed both the retail and wholesale dimensions of the project, highlighting the interdependencies between public policy objectives, market structure and technological feasibility.

The retail digital euro session examined implications for the payments ecosystem, financial intermediaries and end-users. Contributions from Christophe Bonte (European Banking Federation), Anna Luchambre (Ecommerce Europe) and Alessia Benevelli (European Banking Authority) underscored the importance of a clear value proposition, proportional regulation and alignment with existing payment infrastructures.

The wholesale digital euro discussion focused on the role of central bank money in capital markets and tokenized finance, with insights from Joachim Schwerin (European Commission), Stephan Moegelin (BaFin) and Jonathan Leßmann (Swiat) on regulatory readiness, settlement efficiency and innovation in wholesale financial markets.

Looking ahead to 2026, the dialogue made clear that engagement on the digital euro will intensify as policy decisions translate into concrete design and implementation choices. The DEA will continue to push the agenda forward in a constructive, informed and collaborative manner, providing a neutral platform for exchange between public authorities and the private sector as Europe shapes the future of its monetary and payments infrastructure.

Panel Discussion 1: The Retail Digital Euro: From Legal Basis to Implementation
Martijn van der Linden (The Hague University), Dr. Jonas Gross (DEA), Alessia Benevelli (EBA),
Anna Lachambre (ECommerce Europe), Christophe Bonte (EBF) 

Panel Discussion 2: The Wholesale Digital Euro: Infrastructure, Capital Markets & Geopolitics
Dr. Joachim Schwerin (European Commission), Anne-Sophie Gogl (DEA), Jonathan Leßmann (SWIAT), Stephan Möegelin (BaFin, Chair of ESMA Working Group on DLT)

Read the recap here: https://digital-euro-association.de/blog/digital-euro-dialogue

DEA Publications

DEA Statement on the ECB’s October 2025 Digital Euro Progress Report

In early November 2025, the DEA published a dedicated member statement analysing the European Central Bank’s Digital Euro Progress Report, providing an expert-level assessment of developments as the project approached the end of its preparation phase.

The briefing highlighted advances in the digital euro rulebook and procurement process, alongside the growing emphasis on innovation testing. Particular attention was given to experimental work on conditional payments, limited programmability and cross-border use cases, reflecting the ECB’s effort to balance functionality with monetary and regulatory safeguards.

The statement also examined new insights on privacy protections, offline functionality and cybersecurity, noting how the ECB is seeking to reconcile user confidentiality with compliance, resilience and operational integrity. These elements were identified as central to public trust and adoption.

From a financial stability perspective, the briefing summarised the ECB’s findings on holding limits and remuneration, assessing their role in mitigating risks to bank funding and disintermediation.

Finally, the analysis addressed how the digital euro is expected to integrate into Europe’s existing payments ecosystem, outlining implications for payment service providers, merchants and consumers. The statement emphasised the importance of interoperability with current payment solutions and the continued role of private intermediaries in distribution, user experience and innovation.

💎 Access is exclusive for DEA members. Know more about the DEA memberships here.

DEA Events 

DEA Member Spotlight Series | Episode 3 - SAP Digital Currency Hub: Bridging the gap between core finance systems and blockchain-based payments

In October 2025, Tamara F Schmidt interviewed Bernhard Schweizer, Head of SAP Digital Currency Hub. He explains how enterprises can connect their core finance system to blockchain-based payment rails, enjoying the benefits of digital currency payments while running integrated, consistent, and compliant payment processes.

Watch the episode 👇

DEA Member Spotlight Series | Episode 4 - From Vision to Reality: Innovative CBDC Use Cases from Norway to the Digital Euro

In November 2025, Tamara F Schmidt interviewed Lasse Meholm, a fintech pioneer with nearly four decades of experience in digital finance and blockchain innovation

Drawing on his work as coordinator and project manager for the Central Bank of Norway’s CBDC project and his contributions to the ECB Digital Euro initiative, Lasse showcased groundbreaking experiments, some never before conducted by a central bank. The session explored blockchain- and token-based solutions, cross-border interoperability, and how lessons from projects like Icebreaker, Polaris, and mBridge can inform the evolution of the Digital Euro.

Watch the episode 👇

Regulated Layer 1 – Building the Digital Foundations of Finance

In December 2025, the Digital Euro Association hosted a panel discussion on Regulated Layer-1 (RL1) blockchain infrastructures, moderated by Anne-Sophie Kappel, Executive Director of the DEA. 

The panel brought together Jens Siebert (Partner, Financial Services, KPMG Germany), David Durouchoux (Deputy CEO, Société Générale FORGE), Karen Ottoni (Senior Director, Ecosystem & Strategic Initiatives, Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust) and Georg Schneider (Global Head of Real-World Assets, Canton Network).

The discussion examined the convergence of digital assets and digital money and the growing role of regulated Layer-1 infrastructures in financial markets. Panelists discussed why RL1s are emerging now, how they address key institutional challenges such as scalability, settlement finality, and regulatory certainty, and how they are being implemented in practice. The conversation also highlighted how RL1s can complement public blockchains, support interoperability via stablecoins, and enable the integration of tokenisation, settlement, and digital money within a secure, scalable framework aligned with evolving regulatory and central bank approaches.

Watch the episode 👇

Events DEA attended

In October, DEA had the opportunity to participate in the following events:

• London Blockchain Conference
  Panel Discussion: CBDCs and digital money for the public good

• Finweek Bratislava
  Panel Discussion: Digital Euro vs. CBDC: Trust or Control?

November:

• Warsaw Finance Week
  Panel Discussion: From Hype to Habit: Driving Real-World Crypto Adoption Through Payments and Tokenization

• Global Stablecoins Dialogue Workshop - Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR)
  Workshop & Discussion: Stablecoin Regulation

• The Normative Dimensions of the Digital Euro (DINO) Workshop
  Presentation: Stablecoins and European Sovereignty

• African Stablecoin Summit
  Panel Discussion: Positioning Stablecoin Regulation in Africa: Lessons from the GENIUS Act, MICA, and VASP Bills

• Der digitale Euro – Innovationsmotor für die deutsche Industrie. We were delighted to be invited by the Deutsche Bundesbank to this event. The discussions around who should provide digital money for B2B use cases and what it takes to make these solutions work in practice were truly insightful. The keynote by Burkhard Balz set the tone for a rich and engaging expert exchange. Our Chairwoman Anne-Sophie Gógl and Treasurer Lena Grale took part in the discussions, representing the DEA community.

Anne-Sophie Gógl and Lena Grale

December:

• Austrian Payments Academy
  Das neue Geld verstehen: Digitaler Euro & Krypto // Understanding modern money: digital euro & crypto 

DEA Podcast

This Month in Digital Money - October 2025

October reflected intensifying political and market momentum around the future of digital money in Europe and beyond. In the euro area, discussions focused on the European Central Bank’s digital euro draft and progress reports, alongside growing political signals from Eurozone finance ministers supporting the development of euro-denominated stablecoins. At the same time, private-sector innovation continued to accelerate, with developments such as USDC-enabled AI agents facilitating online payments and increased institutional interest in crypto infrastructure, underscored by major banks backing regulated stablecoin and payments firms.

🎧 Listen to the episode here: https://dea-podcast.podigee.io/82-neue-episode 

This Month in Digital Money - November 2025

November shifted the focus toward implementation choices and cross-border experimentation. In Europe, attention centred on the digital euro preparation phase and the European Parliament’s reports, highlighting the transition from policy design to practical decision-making. Globally, cross-border initiatives gained prominence, including CBDC collaboration between the UAE and China. Market developments further illustrated diverging approaches to digital money, with some jurisdictions scaling back domestic CBDC platforms while others advanced tokenization initiatives, including trials of tokenized government securities and the introduction of new stablecoin regulatory frameworks.

🎧 Listen to the episode here: https://dea-podcast.podigee.io/83-neue-episode 

The DEA remains committed to pioneering the future of digital money, driven by innovation, collaboration, and a shared vision of a digitally empowered world. As we look ahead to the next quarter, we are excited to embark on new endeavors, expand our horizons, and continue making a positive impact. Thank you for being a part of our journey!

⏪ Previous Edition: https://blog.digital-euro-association.de/dea-quarterly-insights-q3-2025  

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