The European Central Bank has selected 61 market and public sector participants for the Eurosystem’s Appia contact group. Starting in September 2026, the group will advise on the Pontes settlement platform and support implementation of the Appia roadmap for a European tokenised financial ecosystem.
Policy & regulationImplementation, projects & pilotsTokenizationBlockchain and distributed ledger technologyCBDC
The European Central Bank announced that the Eurosystem has selected 61 financial market stakeholders and public sector institutions for the Appia contact group, which will support its work on tokenisation across the Pontes and Appia initiatives. The group will begin work in September 2026, replacing the discontinued Pontes market contact group and New Technologies for Wholesale Settlement Contact Group.
Members will advise on Pontes user requirements, risk management and platform development, while contributing expertise to the Appia vision and roadmap for a European tokenised financial ecosystem. Pontes is intended to connect market distributed ledger technology platforms with the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services, enabling tokenised assets to settle in central bank money.
European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel argued that central bank money should become a native programmable asset on distributed ledgers, with stablecoins remaining complementary rather than replacing it. The Eurosystem’s Pontes platform is due to launch in September 2026, while Appia is assessing whether tokenized reserves…
In a speech, the European Central Bank set out its payments strategy around a retail digital euro, tokenised central bank money for wholesale use and expanded cross-border instant payment links. It said the digital euro pilot will start in the second half of 2027, with readiness for a potential first issuance targeted for 2029, subject to EU…
The European Central Bank announced the launch of Pontes, allowing wholesale tokenised asset transactions to settle in central bank money. An initial group of market participants and distributed ledger technology operators can use the service immediately, with functionality and operating hours set to expand toward full implementation by 2028. The…