The European Central Bank and the Eurosystem have launched Pontes, a new settlement solution designed to connect tokenised financial markets with central-bank money as Europe expands its digital financial infrastructure.
Launched on September 21, Pontes enables wholesale transactions involving tokenised assets to be settled in central-bank money, providing financial institutions with a risk-free settlement asset for transactions conducted through distributed ledger technology, or DLT.
The initiative marks the first operational step in the Eurosystem’s wider strategy for tokenised finance. According to the ECB, tokenisation could streamline several stages of a financial asset’s lifecycle, including issuance, trading, settlement, custody and servicing, while enabling greater automation through smart contracts.
An initial group of banks, public financial institutions and DLT market operators has already completed onboarding and can begin using Pontes. Participants include Deutsche Bank, Santander, Société Générale, BayernLB, DZ Bank and the European Investment Bank, alongside infrastructure providers including Clearstream, Cashlink, Axiology and SWIAT.
The service will initially provide a core set of functions, with additional capabilities and longer operating hours to be introduced gradually. The ECB expects the broader implementation to continue through 2028.
In a separate announcement on the same day, the ECB said it is also preparing to invest a small portion of its own funds in tokenised euro-denominated securities, with the resulting transactions set to settle through Pontes. Initial investments are expected to focus on securities issued by euro-area public-sector and European supranational institutions.
The launch places Pontes at the centre of Europe’s effort to build an integrated institutional market for tokenised assets while maintaining settlement in central-bank money.
