APPIA

Appia and Pontes: The Eurosystem’s DLT strategy for wholesale payments

After extensive exploratory work with over 50 tests in 2024, the Eurosystem has set the course for the future of the tokenized financial market. In June 2025, the ECB Governing Council adopted a two-pronged strategy to massively advance the settlement of DLT-based wholesale transactions in central bank money (CeBM). This results in profound technological and structural changes for financial institutions.

Pontes – The operational bridge from 2026

To meet the immediate market demand, the solution ‘Pontes’ will be launched in the third quarter of 2026. Pontes acts as an interoperable bridge, connecting the market’s DLT infrastructures with the existing TARGET services of the Eurosystem. This allows financial institutions to scale their DLT-based services early and settle transactions securely in central bank money.

Appia – The blueprint for the DLT ecosystem of the future

While Pontes covers the short-term need, the ‘Appia’ initiative aims at a holistic transformation. By 2028, a ‘blueprint’ (construction plan) for a fully integrated, innovative financial ecosystem is to be developed in close cooperation with the market.

Appia pursues four strategic core objectives:

1. Central bank money as an anchor: Ensuring CeBM as the safest settlement medium in a two-tier system to maintain financial stability.
2. Integration and competition: The development of efficient shared basic infrastructures (‘Shared Utilities’) that overcome the silo mentality of current systems and reduce market barriers.
3. Strategic autonomy: Strengthening European resilience to avoid critical dependencies on foreign technologies or legislation.
4. Global relevance: The increase of the attractiveness of the euro as an international currency in the tokenized space.

The six analytical building blocks of Appia

To technically and regulatorily realize this vision, the Eurosystem structures the analysis under Appia into six ‘Building Blocks’:

• Interoperability & Standards: Establishment of mechanisms and data formats to be able to transfer tokenized assets across different platforms.
• Monetary Policy & Collateral: Conceptualization of the settlement of monetary policy operations and collateral management directly on the DLT.
• CeBM Infrastructure: Development of European infrastructure configurations for the provision of tokenized central bank money.
• Cross-border connections: Promotion of interoperability with global DLT ecosystems and other central banks.
• Safety & Regulation: Analysis and adjustment of the legal and regulatory framework conditions.
• Implementation strategy: Assessment of the impact of this new ecosystem on the existing TARGET infrastructures.

Your expertise is in demand The path to a DLT-based wholesale market requires a close public-private partnership. The Eurosystem explicitly invites market participants, technology providers, and payments experts to actively help shape the Appia Blueprint. Feedback on the concept as well as expressions of interest in participating in the practical tests can still be submitted until April 22, 2026, via a special questionnaire.

If you are looking for technical support as a financial service provider, we look forward to your contact.