The Eurosystem launched Pontes on September 21, 2026, enabling wholesale transactions in tokenized assets to settle in central bank money. The European Central Bank’s announcement describes an initial service that will expand as participants and functionality are added.

This is wholesale market infrastructure. The announcement does not describe a new consumer stablecoin or a wallet for everyday retail purchases.

A phased service, not the final feature set

The ECB says Pontes begins with a core set of services. Additional features and longer operating hours are planned gradually, with full implementation expected by 2028.

An initial group of banks, institutions and distributed-ledger operators has completed onboarding and can begin using the service, according to the release. Further participants are expected to connect in the coming months.

The rollout builds on the Eurosystem’s 2024 exploration of distributed-ledger settlement. The ECB identifies access to central bank money as an important requirement raised by participants in that work.

Why the settlement asset matters

A tokenized security and the money used to pay for it are separate sides of a transaction. Pontes addresses the money side for wholesale transactions by connecting settlement with central bank money.

That makes it different from an arrangement in which a private stablecoin is used as the payment asset. It also differs from simply recording a commercial-bank deposit on a token platform. Our deposit-versus-stablecoin explainer describes those distinctions.

The ECB’s timetable is a plan for service development, not evidence that every proposed feature is already available. The next operational questions concern which participants connect, what transactions they use the service for and how the planned expansion proceeds.

Questions

Is Pontes a consumer stablecoin?

No. The announced service concerns wholesale tokenized-asset settlement in central bank money.

Is the complete feature set live?

No. The ECB describes a phased service with further features and longer hours planned.

Who can use the initial service?

The announcement identifies an onboarded group of market participants and operators, with more expected to connect.

Source

ECB: Eurosystem brings central bank money to tokenised finance, September 21, 2026.