ECB launches Pontes to settle tokenised assets in central bank money
The Eurosystem’s new platform links blockchain trading venues to its TARGET payment rails, with 13 banks and four DLT operators onboard at launch.
By Tech CEO Daily Staff, Newsroom
· 3 min read
The news
The Eurosystem on September 21 launched Pontes, a service that lets wholesale transactions in tokenised assets settle in central bank money. It connects distributed ledger platforms to the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services, so bonds, funds and other instruments recorded on blockchains can settle against reserves held at the central bank.
Thirteen banks are onboarded at launch: ABANCA, BayernLB, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, Cecabank, Deutsche Bank, Deka Bank, DZ Bank, the European Investment Bank, KfW, Memo Bank, NRW.BANK, Santander and Société Générale. The four DLT operators are Axiology, Cashlink, Clearstream and SWIAT, and the Deutsche Bundesbank participates as a market participant, the ECB said.
Core services start now, with more features and longer operating hours to be added gradually and full implementation expected by 2028. A related Eurosystem project, Appia, aims to deliver a blueprint for DLT-based financial services by the same year. Ledger Insights reported that the ECB also plans to invest some of its own funds in tokenised government, agency and supranational securities to gain experience.
Access is limited to eligible financial institutions and market infrastructures, not consumers. CoinDesk reported ECB President Christine Lagarde described it as “a digital euro made available for banks.” The platform is separate from the retail digital euro, whose pilot is slated for the second half of 2027.
The numbers
- Banks onboarded at launch
- 13
- DLT operators at launch
- 4
- Full implementation target
- 2028
Why CEOs should care
Tokenised bonds and funds have largely settled in commercial bank money or stablecoins, which carry the credit risk of the issuer. Pontes gives European institutions a risk-free settlement option, which could make tokenised issuance more attractive to corporate treasurers and issuers who have hesitated to hold private tokens.
For companies raising debt or managing cash in euros, the signal is that tokenised markets are moving from pilots into central bank infrastructure. It also shows Europe’s preferred answer to dollar stablecoins: central bank money on shared rails rather than private tokens. That affects which banks and venues will be the natural partners for tokenised products in the euro area.
What's next
Watch for the first live trades by the onboarded banks, the rollout of extended operating hours and the size of the ECB’s own tokenised securities purchases.
Sources
- GovernmentEurosystem brings central bank money to tokenised finance— European Central Bank
- ReportECB launches Pontes to bridge tokenized asset markets with Eurosystem payment infrastructure— CoinDesk
- ReportEurosystem’s Pontes tokenized central bank money goes live. ECB to invest in digital bonds— Ledger Insights
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