ECB Launches Pontes Wholesale Settlement Solution for Tokenised Assets
The European Central Bank (ECB) has launched Pontes, a wholesale settlement solution for tokenised assets. This move is part of the ECB's digital asset and tokenisation strategy, aiming to speed up transactions and make them more efficient.
Pontes will enable wholesale tokenised asset transfers to be settled in central bank money, condensing multiple steps of an asset's lifecycle, including issuance and trading to settlement, custody and servicing. At launch, Pontes offers a 'core set of services' that will be expanded over time based on market needs and technological developments.
Pontes has been adopted by several market participants and DLT operators, including Deutsche Bank, European Investment Bank, and Clearstream. Additional participants are committed to connecting to Pontes in the coming months.