The European Central Bank (ECB), on behalf of the Eurosystem, has launched the Appia roadmap.
This strategic initiative outlines a plan to develop an integrated, innovative, and resilient tokenized wholesale financial ecosystem in Europe, with central bank money; euro-denominated wholesale settlements serving as the core anchor to maintain stability and trust amid the shift toward tokenization and distributed ledger technology (DLT).
The announcement emphasizes building a bridge from the current financial system to future tokenized markets “firmly grounded in central bank money,” as stated by ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone.
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Key Components of the Roadmap
The strategy follows a two-track approach: Pontes: This is the near-term, operational DLT-based settlement solution from the Eurosystem. It will enable tokenized transactions on market DLT platforms to settle in central bank money, while remaining interoperable with existing TARGET payment settlement services (like TARGET2).
Pontes is scheduled to launch in the third quarter of 2026, addressing immediate market needs without disrupting current infrastructure. Appia: This provides the broader, longer-term strategic framework. It involves collaboration with public and private sector stakeholders to explore designs for a tokenized ecosystem, including infrastructure, standards, governance, and legal aspects.
The project aims to conclude with a comprehensive blueprint published in 2028, crystallizing the Eurosystem’s vision for Europe’s tokenized wholesale markets. The initiative supports the growing trend of tokenizing assets; securities, bonds, or other financial instruments on DLT/blockchain, ensuring the euro remains central and reducing risks from private stablecoins or foreign dependencies.
A public consultation is now open, seeking input from stakeholders until April 22, 2026, to refine the approach. This aligns with broader ECB efforts, such as the digital euro project with potential issuance targeted around 2029, pending legislation and recent acceptances of tokenized securities as collateral in certain cases.
The move is seen as part of the EU’s push for financial autonomy, innovation in capital markets, and resilience in a digital transformation. Pontes is the Eurosystem’s (the ECB and national central banks of the euro area) near-term, practical distributed ledger technology (DLT) settlement solution.
It forms the operational “bridge” (the name “Pontes” means “bridges” in Latin) within the broader Appia roadmap, enabling tokenized wholesale financial transactions to settle in central bank money (euro-denominated wholesale central bank money) starting in the near future.
The main goal is to address immediate market needs for safe, efficient settlement in tokenized environments. As tokenization grows representing assets like securities, bonds, or other instruments as digital tokens on DLT networks, there’s increasing demand for reliable settlement without relying on private stablecoins or risking fragmentation.
Pontes ensures: Central bank money remains the safest and most trusted settlement asset. It supports innovation in DLT-based markets while preserving financial stability, monetary policy control, and smooth payment systems. It avoids disrupting existing infrastructure that euro area institutions already use.
This prevents potential issues from private or foreign-dominated settlement options and keeps the euro central in Europe’s evolving digital financial landscape. Pontes acts as an interoperability layer connecting market-operated DLT platforms with the Eurosystem’s established TARGET Services particularly TARGET2 for real-time gross settlement, or T2.
Transactions can settle directly on a Eurosystem-provided DLT platform using tokenized cash (cash tokens representing central bank money) or via traditional T2 accounts. The cash leg ultimately finalizes in T2 for ultimate settlement assurance. Delivery versus payment (DvP): It uses reliable interoperability mechanisms to ensure atomic, simultaneous exchange of assets and cash, reducing settlement risk.
Supports end-to-end processing and seamless interaction with T2, enabling programmability and efficiency in tokenized transactions. Pontes builds on lessons from the Eurosystem’s 2024 exploratory work, which tested three interoperability solutions involving features like full-DLT settlement (DL3S), Trigger solutions, and TIPS Hash-Link.
It combines the best elements into a single, unified Eurosystem offering. A tokenized transaction occurs on a market DLT platform ? Pontes bridges it to TARGET ? Settlement happens in central bank money, ensuring finality and safety. A pilot for Pontes is scheduled to launch in the third quarter of 2026, with initial operations and onboarding starting then.
This is an operational product rollout not just experimental, allowing eligible participants to begin settling DLT-based transactions. Post-pilot, Pontes will see incremental enhancements, informed by ongoing Appia work. It will evolve toward integration with the longer-term Appia vision.
Pontes provides certainty for markets now while Appia guides the bigger picture. Eligible participants for the initial launch include entities with TARGET2 access, authorized CSDs, DLT settlement system operators, CCPs, and other supervised financial institutions.
The Eurosystem has market contact groups for ongoing dialogue. This initiative reflects the Eurosystem’s commitment to innovation grounded in central bank money as of March 2026.