ECB Urges Central Banks to Adopt Blockchain, Preserving Their Role in the Financial System

Isabel Schnabel, a member of the European Central Bank's (ECB) executive board, made a groundbreaking call at the Jackson Hole symposium on August 28, 2026. She urged central banks to adopt blockchain technology to preserve their role in the financial system.

Schnabel emphasized that central bank money must be issued as programmable tokens on distributed ledger technology (DLT) infrastructure. This would enable atomic and programmed settlement via smart contracts.

She highlighted three technical options for tokenization: issuing tokenized reserves directly on a programmable ledger, linking current payment systems to tokenized platforms via bridges, or entrusting tokenization to a private intermediary. Schnabel expressed a preference for the first option, as it would make central bank money truly programmable.

The ECB's Pontes project is expected to launch in September 2026, aiming to connect blockchain platforms to the Eurosystem's TARGET services. This will ensure direct payments on a blockchain platform operated by the Eurosystem itself.