ECB Launches Pontes Solution for Wholesale CBDC Settlement
The European Central Bank (ECB) has officially launched Pontes, its solution for settling tokenized transactions in central bank money. This move is seen as a significant step towards scaling up wholesale CBDCs.
Pontes was developed by the Eurosystem to help institutions settle tokenized securities in central bank money, removing one of the biggest barriers to broader adoption. At launch, four DLT operators have onboarded: Axiology, Cashlink, Clearstream, and SWIAT.
The ECB has also announced plans to invest some of its own funds in tokenized securities to gain experience in using distributed ledger technology (DLT). The investment will target securities issued by governments, agencies, and supranational organizations. However, the ECB is still conducting preparatory work before proceeding with the investment.