October 4, 2023
When a digital payment transaction takes place, data is exchanged between the payer’s payment initiation device and the payee’s payment acceptance device. To protect this data against unauthorized and fraudulent third-party access, these exchanges must meet the highest security standards. In the context of developing the potential of the digital euro, a highly secure exchange of payment-related data, such as the digital euro account number (in accordance with Article 22(3) of the legislative proposal on the digital euro (COM/2023/369)), would be essential to protect end users who initiate or accept digital euro payments.
The ECB invites experts from the payments industry and academia to participate in technical discussions on possible options for the secure exchange of payment-related data between payer and payee for digital euro transactions.
The discussions will be structured around the following questions:
- What are the latest innovations in the retail payments market that can ensure the secure exchange of end-user data between payment initiation and payment acceptance devices?
- What are the key considerations for secure front-end data exchange for the intended project use case, form factors And basic and optional services of the digital euro?
The discussions are expected to take place in early December 2023. They will take place at expert level in the form of closed sessions with members of the ECB’s digital euro project team. Observers from national central banks in the Eurozone may also attend. Each conference will include a presentation lasting approximately 20 minutes, followed by a 25-minute question-and-answer session with the Digital Euro project team.
To participate, please send an email DigitalEuro@ecb.europa.eu by November 2, 2023, specifying the question(s)/theme(s) you wish to address and describing, in 500 words maximum, the technical problems envisaged and the solutions you would like to propose.
We will evaluate your application based on its relevance to the questions listed above, its potential for practical application within a widely used retail payments solution, and the novelty of your approach.
Context of technical discussions
On October 1, 2021, the ECB launched the investigation phase of the digital euro project. During this phase, the digital euro project team investigated how a digital euro could be designed and distributed to retailers and the public.
The technical negotiations are conditional on the approval of the next phase of the digital euro project by the Governing Council of the ECB (a decision expected in October 2023).
