ECB Aims to Put Central-Bank Money on Blockchain Infrastructure

European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel has called for central-bank money to be brought onto blockchain infrastructure. She argued that the programmability of distributed ledgers could modernize how the ECB implements monetary policy and manages collateral and liquidity.

Schnabel's comments point toward a system in which programmable central-bank money can be settled directly alongside tokenized assets issued by regulated financial institutions. The ECB has been exploring wholesale settlement on distributed ledgers for more than two years, an effort first detailed in early 2024 when the Eurosystem began testing blockchain-based wholesale transactions.

The near-term plan is concrete: the ECB will launch its Pontes initiative next month to connect distributed-ledger platforms with the bank's existing TARGET payment and settlement services. A blueprint for Appia, the longer-term effort to overhaul the region's settlement infrastructure, is expected in 2028.