The Eurosystem launched Pontes on September 21, 2026, as a new solution enabling wholesale transactions in tokenised assets to be settled in central bank money, according to the European Central Bank. The initiative marks the first step in implementing the Eurosystem’s strategy to make central bank money fit for a tokenised digital finance ecosystem, providing a risk-free settlement asset that major financial institutions require.
How Pontes Settles Tokenised Assets
Pontes allows wholesale transactions in tokenised assets—such as stocks, bonds, and other instruments recorded as digital tokens on distributed ledger technology (DLT) networks—to settle in reserves held directly at the central bank, according to announcements from the European Central Bank. Tokenisation makes financial transactions faster and more efficient by bundling issuance, trading, settlement, custody, and servicing into automated smart contracts. Until now, the absence of a risk-free settlement asset forced tokenised trades to settle in commercial bank money or stablecoins, which carry credit risks that large institutions avoid.
According to ECB President Christine Lagarde, the Eurosystem is working to enable a more integrated, innovative, and resilient European financial market in the digital age. Piero Cipollone, a member of the ECB’s Executive Board, noted that Pontes brings the stability and trust of central bank money to the European tokenised finance ecosystem, providing an advantage to help it scale.
Initial Adoption and Bank Participation
The initial group includes Deutsche Bank, Santander, Société Générale, KfW, and the European Investment Bank, alongside four ledger operators including Clearstream. The ECB also intends to become a user itself.
Pontes builds directly on the outcomes of the Eurosystem’s 2024 DLT settlement tests, where public and private stakeholders emphasized that access to a risk-free settlement asset was crucial for wider adoption. The service will initially offer a core set of services operating within existing market hours. According to Richard Baker, founder and CEO of Tokenovate, the longer-term opportunity for the platform is to support more continuous, potentially 24/7 settlement as technology and market needs evolve.
Implementation Timeline and Future Expansion
The Eurosystem plans a gradual rollout for Pontes, with enhanced features and longer operating hours introduced incrementally ahead of full implementation expected by 2028. Additional participants are committed to connecting to the network in the coming months. Simultaneously, the development of an integrated ecosystem for DLT-based financial services continues under a parallel initiative named Appia, which involves experimentation and analytical work by the Eurosystem, Danmarks Nationalbank, and public and private stakeholders to deliver a blueprint by 2028.
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