By
Bhushan Akolkar
January 3rd, 2024
The EURM token will be backed 1:1 with physical euros that are held at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) and Caixabank.
The apex bank of Spain, Banco de España has given the go-ahead to fintech firm Monei to carry on with its testing of a digital euro-based token EURM. According to a local news report by Cinco Días, the testing phase is expected to last between 6-12 months.
The entire project was developed as part of the central bank’s digital ‘sandbox’ initiative. For clarity, the sandbox programme has only one aim, which is to create a regulated environment for financial innovations within Spain. Therefore Monei’s project appears to have satisfied all requirements to get the central bank’s approval.
How to Use the EURM Token
According to Cinco Días, the EURM token will be tested on a small scale in the initial stages. This means that only a small group of applicants, who are also Spanish residents, are eligible to partake in the testing.
All eligible applicants must also own a registered phone number and undergo a video verification process to be able to fund their digital wallets. Funding will be carried out via the payment app Bizum and with traditional euro.
After successfully funding their wallets, users may then send a maximum of 10 euros worth of EURM tokens to other users and businesses at a time.
The EURM token will be backed 1:1 with physical euros that are held at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) and Caixabank.
Monei Eyes Full ECB Approval
Recall that the Bank of Spain also recently announced the launch of its own central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC). However, Monei’s project is different from that in that it is not issued by the European Central Bank (ECB). Nonetheless, Verdaguer believes that they are on the right path. Having gotten Spain’s central bank’s approval to test the token, he believes the rest would be easy. He said:
“[The Bank of Spain] may sit down with the ECB and say that we have the product, that it is regulated and supervised and that it is shaped from there.”
Meanwhile, it appears that Spain itself is approaching the project as an opportunity to set itself among the pacesetters of payment digitization. As Monei CEO and founder Álex Saiz Verdaguer said the future of payments is digital. Therefore, he believes that the EURM token project presents an avenue for Spain to pioneer that cause and become a global force in that regard.