The European Central Bank is advancing plans for an integrated European tokenised finance market, with central bank money positioned as the settlement anchor for tokenised financial assets across the continent.
ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone has outlined the institution’s strategy to avoid fragmented digital platforms that could divide assets and liquidity across Europe’s financial landscape. The initiative signals a clear institutional push to establish shared infrastructure for tokenised finance, rather than allowing separate platforms to develop in isolation.
The tokenised finance market is gaining momentum among European institutions, with the ECB now working to put in place the infrastructure needed for broader adoption and cross-border activity.
ECB Advances Tokenised Finance Market Plans
At the centre of the ECB’s approach is a concern that without coordinated action, Europe risks ending up with a patchwork of disconnected digital platforms. Cipollone warned that such fragmentation would undermine both asset liquidity and the efficiency gains that tokenisation could deliver for banks, financial institutions and market infrastructures.
The ECB has identified two key projects to address this challenge: Pontes and Appia. Together, they form the core of a roadmap intended to produce a blueprint for an integrated tokenised finance market by 2028. The roadmap covers interoperability, cross-border transactions, collateral management, and the legal and regulatory framework required to support tokenised financial assets at scale.
Pontes and Appia Form Core of the Roadmap
Pontes is intended to connect distributed ledger technology platforms with TARGET Services and enable tokenised transactions to settle in central bank money. The ECB plans to launch Pontes this year, with an intended expansion towards 24/7 operation by mid-2028. By anchoring settlement in central bank money, Pontes would provide the trust and finality that institutional participants in the tokenised finance market require.
Appia focuses on the wider architecture, standards and governance needed for a European tokenised financial ecosystem. While Pontes addresses the settlement layer, Appia is concerned with the broader conditions that must be in place for tokenised finance to function effectively across borders. This includes common standards, shared governance frameworks and the coordination required between public and private sector participants.
The two initiatives are complementary. Pontes provides the settlement mechanism; Appia addresses the ecosystem-level requirements that determine whether a tokenised finance market can operate cohesively across jurisdictions.
Interoperability and Regulation Remain Central
Cipollone stressed that the success of the tokenised finance market will depend on more than technical interoperability. He warned that fragmented rules around ownership, settlement finality, custody and smart contracts could prevent Europe from scaling tokenised finance, even if the technology works as intended.
Legal and regulatory harmonisation across European jurisdictions is therefore as important as building the infrastructure itself. Common standards and sustained public-private cooperation will be essential to creating a functioning cross-border market for tokenised financial assets.
For banks, institutional investors, payment and settlement participants and financial technology providers, the ECB’s approach underscores that interoperability and regulatory alignment are becoming central to the future of European tokenised finance. The roadmap towards an integrated market blueprint by 2028 sets out a clear direction, though significant coordination remains ahead.