The “social media posts”, which include the claim that “in 847 days cash amounts in excess of €10,000 will become illegal” and that eventually “every euro will be programmable, traceable and fully under control” and which are accompanied by a photo of Ursula von der Leyen and references to a “satanic dictatorship” are a mixture of real legislation and pure fantasy.

The posts reference timelines of July 2027 and early 2029. In reality, the European Union (EU) adopted Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 in May 2024 as part of a package of legislation to fight money laundering and terrorist financing.

This regulation imposes a €10,000 limit on cash payments for the purchase of goods and services, effective from 10 July 2027. Article 80 of the regulation states that “persons trading in goods or providing services may only accept or make cash payments of an amount of up to

€10,000 or the equivalent in national or foreign currency”. It makes clear that the intention is to target illicit trade, and that the rule does not apply to “payments between private individuals in a non-professional capacity”.

The regulation does not prohibit possessing or transporting cash in amounts exceeding €10,000. It simply reiterates the existing requirement to declare such amounts to customs authorities at the EU’s external borders.

With respect to the lack of any conflict between the EU regulation and national legislation, Magda Moura Canas (spokesperson for DECO PROteste) told SIC Verifica: “This exclusion means that by virtue of that article the EU ceiling of €10,000 does not apply to private transactions between individuals who are not engaged in a professional capacity. So, for example, a private individual selling a personal item to another private individual would fall outside the scope of that EU limit.”

She goes on to say that the new regulation merely sets a common ceiling and allows individual Member States to go beyond it. In Portugal, the law prohibits any cash receipt of €3,000 or more for any transaction between private individuals. So, in the example of a car being sold for

€11,000 between two private individuals in Portugal, “full cash payment is not permitted” and “it has to be done through another legally acceptable means which identifies the recipient, i.e. a bank transfer”.

She notes that whilst “the exclusion of private transactions may give rise to some concern as to the traceability of certain transactions ", the use of a traceable method of payment "does in fact make it easier to provide proof of the transaction” for tax purposes. She concludes that “the €10,000 EU limit is not in any way a new universal limit for all transactions between private individuals and it does not in any way repeal the more restrictive Portuguese legislation."

Claims that the euro will become fully programmable and trackable relate to the EU and ECB’s digital euro project. The digital euro is due to be launched in 2029. The Council and the Commission have both made it clear that “the digital euro will complement, not replace, cash” and that cash will continue to be issued and used.

With respect to state control over people’s spending, Piero Cipollone (a member of the ECB’s Executive Board) has made it absolutely clear that “it will never be possible to restrict the use of the digital euro to pre-defined purposes” and that there will be no restrictions on where, when or for what purpose you can spend it.

On privacy, the ECB has confirmed that offline (in-person) transactions will be as private as cash, and that for online transactions the ECB will neither be able to identify the individual nor track their transactions. The final framework, of course, is still subject to the approval of future EU legislation.

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