Cipollone outlines Pontes rollout for tokenised asset settlement
European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone announced on August 26, 2026, that the Eurosystem will launch its Pontes service this year. The platform connects distributed ledger networks directly to TARGET Services for central bank money settlement.
From TARGET Services to continuous settlement
Pontes will connect private DLT platforms directly with the Eurosystem's TARGET Services, providing cash-leg settlement in central bank money.
Following trials with 64 market participants in 2024, the service goes live in 2026 with one-off onboarding fees.
Operating hours will initially expand to 22.5 hours per business day before transitioning to continuous 24/7 operations by mid-2028 with multi-currency support.
Alongside Pontes, the ECB is advancing project Appia to design the governance and standards for an integrated ecosystem, targeting a comprehensive blueprint by 2028.
This dual approach pairs immediate operational delivery with long-term structural architecture.
Bridging thirty-one national silos
The initiative addresses deep structural fragmentation across European capital markets, where 31 central securities depositories operate and over 95 percent of transactions settle within the same domestic entity.
Meanwhile, global tokenised traditional assets grew fivefold to €23.3 billion between March 2025 and March 2026.
Cipollone highlighted that technical connectivity requires common standards, public-private coordination, and harmonised legal frameworks across the EU.
Right plumbing, missing legal foundation
Pontes sensibly establishes central bank money as the indispensable safety anchor for wholesale digital markets.
Yet technological bridges cannot bypass the stubborn reality of 27 distinct national legal regimes.
Real capital market unification still hinges on legislative harmonization rather than digital plumbing alone.