In a speech at the Central Bank of Ireland’s Financial System Conference 2025, European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone outlined the Eurosystem’s policy direction on tokenisation, positioning tokenised central bank money as the risk-free settlement anchor for DLT-based wholesale transactions and identifying Pontes and Appia as the next steps. The speech reported that the Eurosystem’s 2024 exploratory work on interoperability for settling DLT transactions in central bank money involved 64 stakeholders from nine countries, ran more than 50 experiments and trials, and settled over 200 real transactions with a total value of EUR 1.6 billion using three solutions (Deutsche Bundesbank’s Trigger Solution, Banca d’Italia’s TIPS Hash-Link and Banque de France’s Full DLT Interoperability). It also highlighted trade-offs in current tokenised deposit models and set out stablecoin-related risks, alongside a stocktake of suggested targeted amendments to the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, including tighter treatment of third-country multi-issuer schemes, centralised supervision of significant crypto-asset service providers with revised significance criteria, and an enhanced EU-level data reporting framework. Pontes is described as a Eurosystem DLT-based offering that combines features of the three tested solutions and supports a dual settlement model, either using cash tokens on the Eurosystem DLT platform or via T2, with delivery-versus-payment functionality, and is planned to be available from the third quarter of 2026. Appia is positioned as longer-term work to explore a more integrated European payments and securities ecosystem, including either a shared ledger bringing together central bank money, commercial bank money and other assets, or a network of interoperable platforms with an international and cross-border settlement dimension.
European Central Bank 2025-11-25
European Central Bank sets out Pontes tokenised central bank money settlement solution for Q3 2026 and longer-term Appia project
European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone outlined the Eurosystem's policy on tokenisation, emphasizing tokenised central bank money as a risk-free settlement anchor for DLT-based wholesale transactions. The 2024 exploratory work involved 64 stakeholders, over 50 experiments, and settled transactions worth EUR 1.6 billion. Future initiatives include the Pontes dual settlement model and Appia's exploration of an integrated European payments and securities ecosystem.