The Eurosystem has published a roadmap for “Appia”, a strategic initiative intended to guide the development of tokenised wholesale financial markets in Europe while keeping central bank money at the centre of the financial system.
Appia is designed to bring together the Eurosystem with public and private sector stakeholders to develop what it described as integrated tokenised wholesale markets across Europe, the European Central Bank announced in a statement on Wednesday.
Piero Cipollone, a member of the European Central Bank’s Executive Board, said Appia was intended to build “a road from today’s financial system to tomorrow’s tokenised markets”, grounded in central bank money.
Tokenisation involves issuing or representing assets as digital “tokens”, typically recorded on networks using distributed ledger technology, or DLT — a shared database system best known for underpinning some cryptoassets.
For wholesale markets — where large financial institutions trade assets such as bonds and other securities — the Eurosystem said tokenisation and DLT could allow steps such as issuance, trading, settlement, custody and servicing to be handled on a single platform, and enable the use of “smart contracts”, which are automated software-based agreements.
Pontes to launch in 2026, blueprint due in 2028
The Eurosystem said its approach to providing tokenised wholesale central bank money rests on two initiatives: Pontes and Appia.
Pontes, described as the Eurosystem’s DLT solution, is scheduled to launch in the third quarter of 2026 to enable settlement — the final exchange of money and assets — in central bank money for DLT-based transactions.
Appia has a longer-term focus and will involve cooperation with market participants to explore how a wholesale financial ecosystem based on tokenisation and DLT could be designed, according to the statement.
A blueprint setting out the Eurosystem’s vision is expected to be published in 2028.
The ECB also said Appia would examine different options for DLT network infrastructure, including the trade-offs between using a single shared network and multiple interconnected networks, and would consider common standards and European governance as objectives.
The Eurosystem invited feedback and expressions of interest from stakeholders and published a questionnaire alongside the roadmap.
