The European Central Bank (ECB) has chosen the UK-based deep tech company Fluency to lead initiatives in programmable and offline payments for the digital euro project.
Fluency will conduct experiments in conditional payments, allowing digital euros to be programmed to transfer only when specific conditions are met. The company will also provide its patented offline payments technology, which facilitates secure digital euro transactions without the need for internet connectivity or specialized hardware.
In March, the ECB launched an innovation platform where nearly 70 private sector participants can explore various functionalities and use cases. This followed a call for expressions of interest in innovation partnerships for the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), encompassing offline and conditional payment mechanisms.
“We’re proud to assist the ECB in developing a digital euro that is programmable, inclusive, and sovereign by design,” says Inga Mullins, CEO of Fluency. “Fluency’s architecture aims to bridge digital money with real-world usability, leveraging both offline execution and intelligent conditional logic.”
Fluency’s proprietary Aureum platform supports atomic settlement, programmable transfers, and real-time interoperability across CBDCs, real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems, stablecoins, and tokenized assets.
This appointment follows Fluency’s recent inclusion in the AI Consortium led by the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority.