ECB Links Payment System to Blockchain-Based Financial Markets with New Service

The European Central Bank (ECB) has launched a new service called Pontes that links its payment system to blockchain-based financial markets.

This move reflects a broader effort by central banks to adapt to the growing use of blockchain in finance, which issues and trades assets using shared digital ledgers instead of traditional infrastructure.

The ECB said it would invest some of its own €23 billion funds in blockchain-based securities, focusing on highly rated, euro-denominated debt issued by public institutions.