Understanding electronic money.
Electronic money is a precise object, defined by financial regulation. It is the material of MAP’s earmarkable digital euro. This page gives its vocabulary, its actors and its life cycle, so that the rest of the site can be read without ambiguity.
Definition. Electronic money is monetary value stored in electronic form. It is issued in exchange for funds. It is accepted as a means of payment by persons other than its issuer. Three elements are therefore needed: funds received, value issued, acceptance by third parties.
Why it is the right material for an earmarked budget. The value issued is backed by the euro, one for one, and lives in a system that its issuer operates. That is what makes it possible to attach rules of use decided before the payment, then to record every payment on a tamper-proof blockchain. A bank transfer, by contrast, carries no rule: once it has gone, it has gone.
What it is not. It is not a bank deposit: it bears no interest and is not covered by a deposit guarantee scheme. Nor is it money created by a central bank, or the Eurosystem’s digital euro project.
The actors
| Actor | What they do |
|---|---|
| Issuer | The institution authorised to issue electronic money in exchange for funds. In a MAP programme, that is MAP. |
| Distributor | Where applicable, the party that distributes it on behalf of the issuer. |
| Holder | The party that holds the value issued and has a right to redemption. In a MAP programme, that is the beneficiary. |
| Supplier | The party that accepts it in payment for a good or a service, and takes the payment. |
| Supervisory authority | The authority that authorises the institution and supervises its activity. In France, the ACPR. |
The life cycle
- 01 Funds handed over Funds in euros are handed over to the issuer. Nothing is issued without that step.
- 02 Issuance The issuer creates the electronic money up to the funds received, one for one.
- 03 Use The holder pays suppliers that accept it, with the instruments provided for.
- 04 Redemption The holder can obtain conversion back into euros, under the conditions provided for.
Bank deposit: the distinction
| Criterion | Electronic money | Bank deposit |
|---|---|---|
| Issuer | An authorised electronic money institution. | A credit institution. |
| Nature | Value issued in exchange for funds, at parity with the euro. | A claim on the bank, recorded in an account. |
| Interest | None: electronic money bears no interest. | Possible depending on the product. |
| Deposit guarantee | Not applicable. The funds received are subject to a separate safeguarding mechanism. | Applicable under the conditions of the guarantee scheme. |
| Redemption | A right to redemption, under the conditions set out in the contract. | Withdrawal or transfer of the sums recorded in the account. |
- Funds kept apart
- The funds handed over in exchange for issuance are not the institution’s operating funds. Regulation requires methods intended to preserve them.
- What it is not
- That mechanism is distinct from a deposit guarantee and does not have the same effects. The arrangement adopted by an institution is set out in its documentation.
- What authorisation attests
- That an institution is authorised to carry on a defined activity. And that its authority supervises it, on its governance, its risks and the safeguarding of funds.
- What it does not attest
- Authorisation is neither a State guarantee, nor a commercial recommendation from the authority.
An example
A foundation wants to fund school equipment for fifty families. It transfers €10,000.00 to the programme. MAP issues €10,000.00 of earmarkable digital euro, one for one, and allocates it to the programme.
The foundation sets the rules before the first payment: €200.00 per family, at suppliers of school supplies and equipment. In France, from 15 August to 30 September, with no cash withdrawal. Each family receives a real account and a payment card, activated immediately.
One family pays €48.50 at a selected supplier. The operation is checked before execution, authorised, then settled: the payment is recorded on the blockchain with its amount, its supplier, its date and the rule applied. The foundation sees it in real time. An attempted payment on 5 October would be refused, with its reason: outside the period.
At the end of the programme, amounts left unused are treated under the conditions of the contract. An end date for use and the right to redeem the electronic money are two distinct questions.
Sources and next steps
A general explanatory article. Last reviewed: 11 September 2026. It describes the framework applicable to electronic money and does not replace the documentation of a particular programme. For the MAP service, see Electronic money; for the entity’s framework, see Regulatory framework.