ECB Puts Blockchain on the Table for Central-Bank Money

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

The comments from Schnabel point toward a system where 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 over two years, with its testing first detailed in early 2024 when the Eurosystem began using blockchain-based wholesale transactions.

The near-term plan is concrete, with the ECB set to launch its Pontes initiative next month to connect distributed-ledger platforms with its 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.