Pontes goes live: bringing central bank money to Europe’s tokenised markets

On 21 September 2026, the Eurosystem launched Pontes, its new solution for settling wholesale transactions in tokenised assets in central bank money.

Earlier this year, the ABBL reported on the Eurosystem’s preparations for Pontes and the testing and onboarding process ahead of go-live in Eurosystem unveils next phase of Pontes initiative for settlement in tokenised markets. That work has now moved into live operation.

The significance goes beyond the launch of another market infrastructure initiative. For banks and securities market participants, the question is increasingly practical: how can tokenised assets be integrated into real market processes without losing the safety, trust and resilience of existing settlement arrangements?

Pontes is designed to help answer that question.

Connecting tokenised markets with existing infrastructure

Pontes connects market DLT platforms with the Eurosystem’s central bank money settlement infrastructure.

During the current pilot phase, it operates outside the technical perimeter of TARGET Services while interacting with T2, the Eurosystem’s real-time gross settlement system, for the cash leg of transactions.

In practical terms, this allows market participants to explore tokenised transactions while continuing to rely on a trusted settlement asset.

Pontes should not be confused with the digital euro for retail payments. It is a wholesale market infrastructure initiative, relevant primarily for banks, securities market participants and DLT platform operators.

From testing to live market activity

The launch follows several years of Eurosystem experimentation with DLT-based wholesale settlement and extensive preparation with market participants.

An initial group of financial institutions and market DLT operators has completed onboarding and is ready to use the service, with additional participants expected to connect in the coming months.

This matters because it moves tokenisation one step closer to real market use.

For institutions, Pontes creates an opportunity to test how tokenised assets can fit into existing operating models, assess where automation or process efficiencies can be achieved, and gain experience with settlement in central bank money in a live environment.

ABBL members interested in joining Pontes after the initial launch may contact the Banque centrale du Luxembourg to discuss the applicable onboarding, testing and certification process.

What this means for Luxembourg

For Luxembourg’s banking, investment fund and securities servicing ecosystem, Pontes is particularly relevant.

The financial centre is already active across custody, securities servicing, funds and cross-border banking. Pontes creates a practical new building block for institutions exploring tokenisation in these areas.

The opportunity is not simply to adopt a new technology. It is to understand where tokenisation can improve existing processes, reduce friction between infrastructures and support new services while maintaining settlement safety and resilience.

In that sense, Pontes can help move the discussion from tokenisation as a concept towards tokenisation as an operating model.

Pontes today, Appia tomorrow

Pontes is one part of a broader Eurosystem strategy.

The Appia roadmap looks further ahead towards a more integrated European tokenised financial ecosystem. The ABBL analysed this longer-term workstream in Appia: the Eurosystem sets out a roadmap for a European tokenised financial ecosystem. It focuses on areas such as interoperability, standards, collateral, cross-border arrangements and resilience, with a longer-term blueprint expected by 2028.

The two initiatives are complementary.

Pontes addresses the immediate challenge: enabling tokenised wholesale transactions to settle in central bank money.

Appia addresses the longer-term question: how Europe’s broader tokenised financial ecosystem should be structured.

Together, they reflect the Eurosystem’s gradual approach, combining near-term operational progress with longer-term work on integration and market architecture.