Lisbon, July 14, 2026 (Lusa) - The European Central Bank (ECB) selected the financial institutions CGD, BCP and Unicre for the digital euro pilot project, in which the Bank of Portugal is also participating, the central bank said in a statement.
The European Central Bank (ECB), together with the national central banks of the euro area, has selected 36 payment service providers to take part in the digital euro pilot project, three of which are from Portugal.
The ECB received more than 50 applications and selected operators representing various business models, sizes and geographical areas.
In Portugal, Banco Comercial Português (BCP), Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) and Unicre were selected.
In a statement, the Bank of Portugal, which will also take part in the pilot project, explained that the aim will be to test the future digital currency from a technical and operational perspective and to assess the user experience. The pilot project will take place in the second half of 2027 and is expected to last 12 months.
CGD and BCP also issued statements today on the subject, emphasising from the outset the importance of their participation.
Quoted in the statement, BCP’s chief executive, Miguel Maya, said that the digital euro project “has all the makings of becoming another significant milestone in the further development of the European project”.
The state-owned bank CGD described it as “a strategic initiative for the future of payments in Europe and for the modernisation of the European financial system”.
The ECB launched the digital euro project in 2021 and is now moving forward with this pilot, following the European Parliament’s endorsement earlier this month of the start of negotiations with the Council of the European Union on the creation of the digital euro.
The digital euro is the digital currency that the ECB will issue in conjunction with the national central banks of the euro area, and, if it goes ahead, people could use it for any digital payment across the eurozone. Private operators have been calling for their inclusion in this European project.
One of the aims of this project is to promote European sovereignty in the field of payments (as it is an opportunity for Europe to reduce its reliance on US companies such as Visa and Mastercard) and to address the growing number of unregulated private electronic payment instruments, such as ‘stablecoins’ (crypto-assets that seek to maintain a constant value relative to an asset, such as the euro or the dollar).
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