Eurosystem launches Pontes to settle tokenised-asset trades in central bank money

The Eurosystem on Monday launched Pontes, a live settlement solution that allows wholesale transactions in tokenised assets to be settled in central bank money, moving the euro area’s central banking system from experimentation to an operational market offering.

That makes the announcement more than another policy speech or pilot. Pontes is now available to an initial group of market participants and distributed ledger technology, or DLT, operators that have completed onboarding and are ready to use it immediately, according to a European Central Bank press release. The ECB said additional participants are committed to connect in the coming months.

The initial cohort includes large banks and public-sector institutions such as Deutsche Bank, Santander, Société Générale, the European Investment Bank and KfW. Initial DLT operators include Axiology, Cashlink, Clearstream and SWIAT. The ECB described Pontes as “the first initiative under the Eurosystem’s strategic programme to make central bank money fit for a tokenised future.”

The development matters because central bank money is the risk-free settlement asset at the core of the financial system. Extending that into tokenised-asset markets is a concrete step toward linking those markets with existing regulated settlement infrastructure. Piero Cipollone, a member of the ECB’s Executive Board, said: “Pontes brings the stability and trust of central bank money to the European tokenised finance ecosystem.” He added: “It will give an important advantage to help it scale.”

Pontes is a wholesale market infrastructure project, not a retail payments product and not the public-facing digital euro initiative. The launch follows Eurosystem exploratory work conducted from May to November 2024, when the ECB said 64 eligible market participants across nine jurisdictions tested settlement of DLT-based transactions in central bank money and settled almost 1.6 billion euros. According to the ECB, that work showed market demand for settlement of tokenised assets in central bank money.

After those tests, the ECB’s Governing Council in February 2025 backed a two-track approach. The near-term track was Pontes, designed as an operational solution for the market now. The longer-term track was Appia, a separate programme intended to produce a broader blueprint for an integrated tokenised ecosystem by 2028.

Christine Lagarde, president of the ECB, said in the press release: “The Eurosystem is working to enable a more integrated, innovative and resilient European financial market in the digital age.” She added: “We will continue to make progress in close collaboration with the market.”

At launch, Pontes will offer what the ECB called a core set of services. Enhanced features and longer operating hours will be introduced gradually, with full implementation expected by 2028. Appia, the longer-term arm of the strategy, is on the same broad timetable. The ECB did not disclose launch-day transaction volumes or capacity for Pontes.

The result is a measured but concrete step: euro-area central banks are now offering live settlement in central bank money for wholesale tokenised-asset transactions, with an initial set of banks, public institutions and DLT operators already connected. How widely it is used will depend on market uptake, but the operational threshold has now been crossed.