The Eurosystem starts settling tokenised assets in central bank money
Serguey Asael Shinder2 min readThe Eurosystem launched Pontes on 21 September: a settlement solution that lets wholesale transactions in tokenised assets be settled in central bank money. The ECB calls it the first initiative under its programme to make central bank money fit for a tokenised future.
The mechanics, from the announcement itself rather than from the coverage of it. Pontes builds on the Eurosystem's 2024 tests of DLT settlement, in which participants said access to a risk-free settlement asset was the condition for wider adoption. It starts with a core set of services, with enhanced features and longer operating hours added gradually and full implementation expected by 2028. An initial group of market participants and DLT operators has completed onboarding and can use it immediately; more are committed to connecting over the coming months.
Christine Lagarde framed it as working towards "a more integrated, innovative and resilient European financial market in the digital age". Piero Cipollone put the argument more directly: Pontes "brings the stability and trust of central bank money to the European tokenised finance ecosystem".
A second announcement the same day is the one to read next to it. The ECB has begun preparatory work to invest a small portion of its own funds in tokenised securities, with those purchases settled in central bank money through Pontes. The stated purpose is first-hand experience across the whole investment lifecycle — execution, settlement, systems, portfolio management. Initial investments are to focus on euro-denominated euro area public sector and European supranational securities, and the own funds portfolio is a non-monetary-policy portfolio that funds the ECB's operating expenses. The same release names a third strand, Appia, which is to deliver a blueprint for a tokenised financial ecosystem in Europe.
What it means
This is the wholesale side of the ledger, not the retail one. Nothing here is a digital euro in anyone's pocket. It is plumbing between banks and market infrastructures, and the asset being moved is the same central bank money that settles today — the change is the rail it moves on.
The central bank is buying, not only clearing, and that is the unusual part. A settlement system run by the ECB is an extension of what it already does. An institution that takes a position in tokenised securities becomes a participant in the market it regulates the plumbing for, which is why the release is careful to say the portfolio is non-monetary-policy and the amount is small.
2028 is the date that matters. A core service launched now with full implementation expected in two years tells you the initial feature set is narrow. Anyone planning around Pontes should be asking which services exist on day one, not what the programme will cover when it is finished.
The ECB's release on the ECB investing its own funds is at https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2026/html/ecb.pr260921_1~5a011ecbea.lt.html.