The French central bank “Banque de France” announces extensive test runs for a digital euro. France thus takes a leading role in the international race for the first digital central bank currency. They will soon launch a new pilot project to test a so-called “wholesale CBDC”. The term CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) covers government versions of digital money. Wholesale also describes one of two conceivable variants of CBDCs and stands for an interbank currency. In contrast to so-called retail CBDCs, non-banks are initially excluded. For the test run, the central bank has enlisted prominent support from the private sector. After the country’s highest monetary institution had already cast private actors for the project in May of this year, eight – some of them well-known – applicants have now been selected.