The European Central Bank (ECB) on Wednesday unveiled the Appia Roadmap, setting out a long-term plan to build a tokenized wholesale financial market in Europe based on central bank money.
The roadmap is built around two related initiatives. Pontes is the Eurosystem’s distributed ledger technology payments solution and Appia is the broader strategic framework for developing the tokenized financial ecosystem of the future. The ECB said Pontes is expected to be launched in the third quarter of 2026.
“With Appia, we are building a path from today’s financial system firmly rooted in central bank money to tomorrow’s tokenized market,” said Piero Cipollone, ECB board member.
Pontes is the Eurosystem’s DLT solution and Appia is the strategic roadmap
A key component of Appia’s roadmap, Pontes will deploy the Eurosystem’s Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) solution, designed to enable central bank funds settlement of market transactions over an interoperable network.
The Eurosystem is the monetary authority of the euro area and is made up of the ECB and the central banks of the EU member states that have adopted the euro.
Pontes aims to bridge the market’s DLT infrastructure with the Eurosystem’s “TARGET” service (short for Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Payment Express Transfer system) by the end of the third quarter of 2026.
Development timeline of Appia and Pontes. sauce: E.C.B.
The TARGET service is a suite of payment and settlement systems operated by the Eurosystem that supports euro-denominated transactions across Europe. There are three main types of these: TARGET2 for bulk payments, T2S for securities payments, and TIPS for instant payments.
ECB solicits feedback from public and private sector stakeholders
Coinciding with this announcement, the ECB launched a public consultation, inviting participants from both the public and private sectors to comment on the roadmap and express their interest in contributing to its implementation.
This consultation is divided into two parts. In Part 1, feedback on specific chapters of the roadmap will be collected and respondents’ names may be published. In the second part, interested parties can submit proposals to actively contribute to Appia’s constituents, and their responses will be kept confidential.
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The answers will help shape the long-term blueprint for Europe’s tokenized financial ecosystem. All feedback must be submitted by April 22 via an online survey.
Appia’s rollout comes as the ECB continues its commitment to a digital euro. The central bank announced earlier this month that it plans to begin selecting a payment service provider in 2026, ahead of a 12-month pilot scheduled to begin in the second half of 2027.
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