Deployments · platform by European Central Bank

Eurosystem Pontes DLT settlement in central bank moneyUpdated 8 Nov 2026

The Eurosystem's service connecting market DLT platforms to TARGET so that tokenised wholesale transactions settle in euro central bank money, either as cash tokens on the Eurosystem's own DLT platform or in T2. Launched on 21 September 2026 with 13 market participants and four DLT platform operators onboarded, with longer hours and more functions to follow and full implementation targeted for 2028.

Live (limited) since 21 Sep 2026^[1]i — First reported settlement 26 October 2026 (ESM's digital bond on D7); production launch with a first group of participants and core services. · Reviewed today i

Assets

Wholesale central-bank money^[2]

Euro cash tokens representing central bank money on the Eurosystem DLT platform

Networks

Eurosystem DLT platform (Pontes) Private, permissioned^[2]

Use cases i

Delivery versus payment (DvP)^[2]FX settlement^[2]

Jurisdictions

European Union

Participants

• European Central BankPlatform provider, Operator, Issuer^[1]European Union
• Deutsche BundesbankCounterparty^[1]Germany
• ABANCACounterparty^[1]Spain
• BayernLBCounterparty^[1]Germany
• Caisse des DepotsCounterparty^[1]France
• CecabankCounterparty^[1]Spain
• Deutsche BankCounterparty^[1]Germany
• DekaBankCounterparty^[1]Germany
• DZ BANKCounterparty^[1]Germany
• European Investment BankCounterparty^[1]Luxembourg
• KfWCounterparty^[1]Germany
• Memo BankCounterparty^[1]France
• NRW.BANKCounterparty^[1]Germany
• Banco SantanderCounterparty^[1]Spain
• Société GénéraleCounterparty^[1]France
• European Stability MechanismCounterparty^[3]Luxembourg
• AxiologyTechnology provider^[1]Lithuania
• CashlinkTechnology provider^[1]Germany
• ClearstreamTechnology provider^[1]Luxembourg
• SWIATTechnology provider^[1]Germany

Moves across networks

• viaEurosystem Pontes^[2]Pontes is itself the link; the connected market platforms (SWIAT, Clearstream) are recorded as network connections.

Timeline

1. Happened 26 Oct 2026 · Production milestone · recorded 8 Nov 2026
   The European Stability Mechanism settles its first digital bond (EUR 1 billion, on Clearstream's D7) through Pontes, the first reported transaction to use the service.^[3][4]
2. Happened 21 Sep 2026 · Launch · recorded 11 Oct 2026
   Pontes goes live with 13 market participants and the DLT operators Axiology, Cashlink, Clearstream and SWIAT; full implementation expected by 2028.^[1]
3. Happened 1 Jul 2025 · Announcement · recorded 11 Oct 2026
   Eurosystem announces the single programme under which Pontes is built (the Pontes page links this July 2025 announcement).^[2]

Sources i