ECB selects Worldline for the Eurosystem digital euro pilot as acquiring and technical service provider

Worldline announced it has been selected by the European Central Bank to take part in the Eurosystem's digital euro pilot in a dual role — as an acquiring payment service provider and as a technical service provider. The scope covers in-store NFC, e-commerce and mobile-commerce payment scenarios, and Worldline will participate through its Luxembourg payment institution and through PAYONE in Germany and Austria. The pilot is scheduled to start in H2 2027 and run for 12 months.

Acceptance-side roles in the digital euro pilot are the first concrete allocation of position in a scheme that, if it proceeds, re-prices a share of European card volume. Winning both the acquiring and the technical-service mandate places Worldline in the merchant-acceptance layer rather than only the processing layer, which matters for a group that has spent two years divesting and defending its merchant-services base.

It also puts PAYONE — a tracked entity separately named in the Operation Chargeback charges — inside the pilot perimeter for DE/AT.

• The full list of selected pilot providers and whether competing acquirers won equivalent acceptance mandates
• Whether the Digital Euro Regulation clears the legislative process on a timeline compatible with an H2 2027 pilot
• The merchant-fee model the Eurosystem attaches to acceptance

• worldline.com