ECB Launches Pontes for Tokenized Asset Settlement

The European Central Bank (ECB) has launched Pontes, a new platform that allows wholesale transactions in tokenized assets to be settled using central bank money. The initiative is part of the Eurosystem's strategy to adapt central bank money to increasingly digital and tokenized financial markets.

Pontes builds on the Eurosystem's 2024 experiments with distributed ledger technology (DLT) for central bank money settlement, which highlighted the importance of access to a risk-free settlement asset for wider adoption. The platform will initially provide a core set of services, with additional features and longer operating hours introduced gradually.

The launch brings central bank money into the emerging infrastructure for tokenized wholesale finance, connecting new forms of digital market infrastructure with established arrangements for central bank settlement. Banks, market infrastructures, and DLT operators will join Pontes progressively, with an initial group already completing onboarding.