Applications for suppliers to supply parts and associated services for a possible digital euro were invited by the central bank in January, with contracts worth up to EUR 1 billion.

Speaking before a committee of the European parliament, Piero Cipollone, a board member of the European Central Bank, reassured MEPs that the central bank is not initiating any development at this time. Rather, it is developing "framework agreements" that may be utilized in the future to develop the necessary components in the event that the decision is made to launch the digital euro.

"We need to be prepared for such an event," he states. Our preparedness would be jeopardized if we began looking for potential suppliers after that choice was made. However, by looking for possible suppliers right now, we are not tying our hands in any manner. The agreements will be adaptable enough to take into account future developments in technology or legislative discussions. And we wouldn't get into any contracts if we decided against launching a digital euro."

Nevertheless, in order to set the stage for project approval, more communication with platform providers is thought to be required.

According to Cipollone: "This is particularly crucial for components that are not yet on the market, such as the offline digital euro functionality."

In line with this, the central bank has released requests for proposals to create framework agreements; but, there is a catch: the procurement procedure will only be open to legal firms that are managed by or have registered offices in the EU, as well as EU nationals.

"To strengthen our autonomy, resilience and security, a digital euro would rely on a European infrastructure," says Cipollone.

He claims that the results of the open tender procedure would be posted on the ECB's website.