Digital Currencies in Payments

In payments, "digital currency" usually means one of two things: a stablecoin, a privately issued token backed by reserves and pegged to a currency such as the euro, or a central bank digital currency (CBDC), a digital form of central bank money like the planned digital euro. Both differ from the bank deposit behind an ordinary transfer, where the money is a claim on a commercial bank, not on a central bank or a reserve-backed issuer. A merchant or treasury team weighing digital currencies for payments is really comparing three things: who stands behind the money, how fast it settles, and which rulebook governs it.

AllUnity, a Frankfurt venture founded by DWS, Flow Traders and Galaxy, issues EURAU, launched as the first fully reserved, MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin issued under a BaFin e-money license. Under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), a euro-denominated stablecoin used for payments is classified as an e-money token, which brings it under e-money institution rules on reserves and redemption, which are stricter than the regime for other crypto-assets. Deutsche Bank has named EURAU among the stablecoins on its list for institutional custody clients, and a treasury team can already settle a payment in EURAU the way it would move funds over a bank rail, with the reserve backing verified under MiCA's e-money token requirements. See stablecoins in Germany for the issuance and licensing side.

The digital euro would be a retail CBDC, a direct digital claim on the European Central Bank, not on a commercial bank or a private issuer. The project moved from investigation into a preparation phase between November 2023 and October 2025, with a draft rulebook and initial provider selection completed. In 2026, the European Parliament's economic affairs committee voted to advance the file, and the full Parliament followed with a vote in favor of the legislative framework. Assuming the EU adopts the legislation, the Eurosystem aims to start testing from mid-2027 and targets a possible first issuance around 2029, so the digital euro is not yet in use as a payment method. The digital euro answer and the CBDC answer in the knowledge hub cover the design questions in more depth.

Since the EU's instant payments rule took effect, a standard SEPA bank transfer already settles within ten seconds, at any hour, at no extra fee. A euro stablecoin transfer settles on its own blockchain network, which can be just as fast and, unlike a bank transfer, does not depend on the sending and receiving bank both being open for business or connected to the same settlement system. What a stablecoin transfer does not carry is deposit insurance; its safety rests instead on the reserve backing and redemption rights MiCA requires from the issuer. A digital euro, once it exists, would add a third option backed directly by the central bank, not by reserves or a bank's own balance sheet. See instant payments in Europe for how the bank-transfer side works today.

Finance Loop is the meeting place for the treasury teams, payment engineers and compliance staff who evaluate stablecoins and the digital euro as ways to pay, alongside the banks and fintechs building the infrastructure. It connects the finance, IT and AI communities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with events in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg.

Finance Loop is a strategic partner of the Digital Euro Association, the Frankfurt think tank behind the Digital Euro Conference, where speakers from central banks, commercial banks and fintechs cover both the digital euro and stablecoins. Finance Loop supported the Bybit EU x Circle Roadshow in Frankfurt, with panels on stablecoins, USDC and EURC as payment tools. Finance Loop is media partner of Capital & Code in Frankfurt, hosted by the euro stablecoin issuer AllUnity, where the program sets the digital euro against tokenized money. With Venturebloxx it published the report Stablecoins: The Operating Layer for Global B2B Payments and prepares The Future of Money in Europe on stablecoins, tokenized deposits and CBDCs. It cooperated with the London Blockchain Finance Summit, which covered stablecoins, CBDCs and tokenized deposits in production, and reported on a CFS survey in which more than 60 percent of German finance professionals saw no need for a digital euro. Related pages: stablecoins in Germany, payments in Germany and instant payments in Europe.

Yes. AllUnity's EURAU is a licensed, MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin issued in Frankfurt, and Deutsche Bank has named it among the stablecoins on its institutional custody list. A payment in EURAU settles on its blockchain network under the reserve and redemption rules MiCA sets for e-money tokens.

No. The digital euro is still in the legislative and preparation stage. In 2026 the European Parliament advanced the legislative framework, and the Eurosystem's own plan targets testing from mid-2027 and a possible first issuance around 2029, contingent on the EU adopting the underlying law.

A stablecoin is issued by a private company and backed by reserves it holds, such as EURAU backed by euro reserves under BaFin's e-money license. A CBDC, such as the planned digital euro, is issued directly by a central bank and is a direct claim on that central bank, not on a private issuer. The stablecoin vs CBDC answer covers the distinction in full.