31 March 2026

• Holistic strategy covers wholesale, business‑to‑business, retail and cross‑border payments
• Forward-looking approach promotes competitive, innovative and resilient European payments
• Eurosystem outlines position on tokenised settlement assets, including tokenised deposits and stablecoins

The Eurosystem has today published its comprehensive payments strategy, outlining its vision for the evolution of Europe’s payments amid rapid technological change. It complements the Eurosystem’s cash strategy and extends the Eurosystem’s retail payments strategy by covering wholesale, business-to-business and cross-border payments. It takes into account the gradual adoption of new technologies such as tokenisation and distributed ledger technology, and ensures that innovation can advance while central bank money remains the anchor of trust and stability.

“Payments are critical for society, and they are changing rapidly,” said Piero Cipollone, member of the ECB’s…