The ECB has gone live with Pontes, a settlement platform that lets banks and eligible institutions settle tokenized-asset transactions in central bank money rather than private stablecoins.
Pontes acts as a bridge connecting DLT-based securities platforms to the Eurosystem's TARGET real-time gross settlement system, so on-chain trades can settle directly in central bank money. An initial group of banks and DLT operators has already onboarded and can use the service right away, with more committed to join. The Governing Council approved the plan back in July 2025, pairing the short-term Pontes pilot with Appia, a longer-term project for integrated DLT-based capital markets.
ECB board member Piero Cipollone, who leads the project, has argued that tokenised finance needs a risk-free settlement asset and that only central bank money fits, offering a safe anchor as the market grows. The separate retail digital euro for consumers stays in development.
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