The European Central Bank is supporting the use of central bank reserves on distributed ledger technology (DLT, shared digital transaction infrastructure) as financial assets become increasingly tokenised. Piero Cipollone, a member of the ECB’s Executive Board, says tokenisation could improve efficiency, deepen European market integration and strengthen monetary policy, but only if central bank money is available directly on-chain. The ECB conducted more than 50 trial projects across nine jurisdictions in 2024, with results showing demand among market participants for risk-free central bank money to settle DLT-based transactions rather than private stablecoins or commercial bank tokens. The Pontes project is scheduled to launch in the third quarter of 2026 and will connect DLT platforms with the ECB’s TARGET Services infrastructure, allowing institutions to settle tokenised transactions using euro reserves held at the central bank. The Appia roadmap, published in March 2026, aims to establish a comprehensive blueprint for a European tokenised financial ecosystem by 2028 through cooperation between public institutions and private market participants. By the end of March 2026, the Eurosystem had begun accepting certain DLT-issued marketable assets as collateral for monetary policy operations. The Pontes rollout is therefore a key milestone for the broader Appia roadmap and the adoption of tokenised finance in Europe.