In October 2020, the Eurosystem initiated a digital euro project. Within this framework, on April 5, 2022, the European Commission (COM) launched a targeted consultation on the digital euro (the "Consultation"), seeking a group of specialists to assist in the research and development needed to digitise the currency of the federation.

The consultation aims to collect information on expected impacts on key industries, users, chambers of commerce and other stakeholders in international trade and gather further evidence on issues such as: users’ needs and expectations for a digital euro, making the digital euro available for retail use while continuing to safeguard the legal tender status of euro banknotes and coins, and the application of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML-CFT) rule. COM’s targeted consultation on a digital euro will run until June 14, 2022, and its findings will be published thereafter. 

The digital euro project is currently in its investigation phase, which will last until October 2023 and will be followed by a determination by the ECB on whether to further work on the project. You can find more information on the consultation process here (https://lnkd.in/eQYuJjtF)