The European Central Bank will launch a blockchain settlement pilot by late 2026 under its new Pontes initiative, aiming to connect DLT platforms with the eurozone’s core payment systems.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has approved a two-track plan to settle distributed ledger technology (DLT) transactions using central bank money, which could pave the way to modernizing Europe’s financial system.
The first track, dubbed Pontes, will focus on a short-term solution by linking blockchain-based DLT platforms with TARGET Services, a suite of financial services developed and operated by the Eurosystem designed to facilitate the flow of payments and securities within the eurozone.
A pilot for Pontes is expected to launch by the end of the third quarter of 2026, the ECB said Tuesday. This pilot will use insights from the ECB’s exploratory DLT trials in 2024, which involved over 50 experiments and 64 participants, to test a unified settlement system with central bank money.
