The European Central Bank (ECB) has selected Italian fintech firms Almaviva and Fabrick for a temporary joint venture to develop the mobile application and supporting infrastructure for the proposed digital euro. This contract, valued at approximately €153 million, aims to create a digital currency platform that would enable European citizens to conduct payments in physical stores, online, and via person-to-person transfers.
Almaviva and Fabrick will also be responsible for developing the app’s essential infrastructure, including software development kits (SDKs) and APIs. These components are designed to allow European payment service providers to integrate their existing services with the digital euro platform.
The initial contract spans four years, with a potential extension of up to ten years. The first two years are designated for a gradual rollout of various use cases, followed by two years for development completion and ensuring a stable operational phase, as stated in a joint announcement.
Almaviva, based in Rome, is a digital innovation group specializing in software development, system integration, and digital infrastructure projects. Fabrick, a subsidiary of Italy’s Sella Group, focuses on open finance and banking technology, developing platforms and APIs for financial institutions to integrate and offer digital financial services.
It is important to note that the ECB has not made a final decision to launch a digital euro, and the project, initiated in 2020, remains in a dedicated development phase. If eventually issued, the digital currency would be backed by the Eurosystem and would function as a complement to physical cash, rather than a replacement.
Beyond Almaviva and Fabrick, the ECB has enlisted several other partners for the digital euro project. These include Feedzai for fraud and risk management, Giesecke+Devrient for offline payment solutions, EquensWorldline for secure information exchange, and Sapient for alias look-up services. UK blockchain software firm Fluency joined the initiative in May to test offline and programmable functionality with its Aureum platform, while Diebold Nixdorf became involved in August, integrating its Vynamic Transaction Middleware payments processing solution with digital euro interfaces.
