Mastercard Warns Digital Euro Could Distort Competition, Threatening 61% Market Share
Mastercard CEO Martina Weimert said legal tender status for a digital euro would oblige merchants to accept it like cash and distort competition with commercial bank money. The draft EU law targets approval by end-2026 and a 2029 retail launch, threatening Visa and Mastercard’s 61% eurozone card payments share.
1. Weimert's Warning on Competition
Mastercard CEO Martina Weimert warned that granting legal tender status to the digital euro would oblige merchants to accept it like cash, creating a distortion of competition with commercial bank money and exposing card networks to direct rivalry from central bank digital currency.
2. Mastercard's Market Exposure
Visa and Mastercard currently account for 61% of card payments in the eurozone and nearly all cross-border transactions, putting their transaction fee revenues at risk if a widely accepted state-issued digital currency reduces reliance on traditional cards.
3. Digital Euro Proposal
The European Commission’s draft law envisions a digital euro as electronic cash backed by the ECB, distributed through digital wallets for online and offline payments with a yet-to-be-defined spending limit, designed to coexist with banknotes by 2029.
4. Legislative Outlook
EU leaders aim to approve the legislation by end-2026 to meet a 2029 retail launch target, and the file’s progress in the European Parliament will determine whether legal tender status is included, amid intense lobbying from commercial banks and privacy advocates.