The European Central Bank (ECB) on Wednesday published its Appia Roadmap, which outlines a long-term plan to build wholesale financial markets in Europe based on central bank money.
The roadmap is built around two interrelated initiatives. Pontes is the distributed settlement technology solution of the Eurosystem, while Appia is the broader strategic framework for the development of the future tokenized financial ecosystem. The ECB said Pontes is scheduled for the third quarter of 2026.
“With Appia, we are building a path from today’s financial system to tomorrow’s tokenized markets based on central bank money,” said ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone.
Pontes is the Eurosystem’s DLT solution, while Appia is a roadmap
Pontes, a key component of Appia’s roadmap, introduces the Eurosystem’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) solution, designed to enable the settlement of central bank money for market transactions over shared networks.
The Eurosystem is the monetary authority of the euro area, which consists of the ECB and the national central banks of the EU member states that have adopted the euro.
By the end of the third quarter of 2026, Pontes aims to equip the DLT market infrastructure with the Eurosystem’s “TARGET” services, which is a real-time trans-European transfer transfer system.
TARGET services are a set of payment and settlement systems managed by the Eurosystem that support euro transactions across Europe. They include three main types: TARGET2 for value payments, T2S for securities settlements, and TIPS for instant payments.
The ECB invites feedback from public and private sector stakeholders
Along with the launch, the ECB opened 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.
The consultation is divided into two parts: The first part collects feedback on specific chapters of the roadmap, which can be published under the respondent’s name, while the second part allows interested parties to submit suggestions for actively contributing to the building blocks of Appia, and the responses will be considered confidentially.
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The answers will help shape the long-term plan for Europe’s tokenized financial ecosystem. All feedback must be submitted via the online survey by April 22.
Appia’s implementation also comes as the ECB continues to work on the digital euro. Earlier this month, the central bank said it plans to start selecting payment service providers in 2026 before a 12-month trial that starts in the second half of 2027.
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