The Eurosystem has unveiled a new strategic initiative called Appia, outlining a roadmap to help shape Europe’s emerging tokenised financial ecosystem while ensuring central bank money remains the anchor of the monetary system. The project signals how the European Central Bank and national central banks plan to guide the transition toward tokenised wholesale markets as digital technologies transform financial infrastructure across the euro area.
Announced on 11 March, Appia will bring together the Eurosystem, financial institutions, technology providers, and public sector bodies to explore how tokenisation and distributed ledger technology, or DLT, could underpin a more integrated European financial market.
“With Appia, we are building a road from today’s financial system to tomorrow’s tokenised markets, firmly grounded in central bank money,” said Piero Cipollone, member of the ECB’s Executive Board.
Tokenisation refers to the process of issuing or representing financial assets as digital tokens recorded on distributed ledger networks. In wholesale markets, this could allow several stages of an asset’s lifecycle, including issuance, trading, settlement, custody and servicing, to operate on the same technological platform.
According to the Eurosystem, such arrangements could significantly improve efficiency in financial markets. Tokenisation can also enable the use of smart contracts, allowing transactions or financial processes to execute automatically when predefined conditions are met.
Pontes and Appia form twin strategy
Appia is one of two complementary initiatives forming the Eurosystem’s strategy for tokenised wholesale central bank money.
The first is Pontes, a DLT-based solution designed to enable settlement of transactions in central bank money on distributed ledger platforms. Pontes is expected to launch in the third quarter of 2026 and will focus on enabling settlement for tokenised financial transactions.
Appia takes a broader and longer-term perspective. Instead of providing a single technical solution, it will explore how a full tokenised financial ecosystem could develop across Europe, working closely with market participants to assess different technological and governance models.
The Eurosystem plans to publish a blueprint for this ecosystem in 2028, outlining how tokenised financial infrastructures and services could operate across European markets.
The initiative also reflects wider concerns about fragmentation in emerging digital financial infrastructures. By promoting common standards and European governance frameworks, the Eurosystem hopes to reduce barriers to entry and foster competition and innovation.
Officials say maintaining the role of central bank money is essential as financial markets digitise. Ensuring that tokenised markets continue to rely on central bank settlement assets is seen as critical for monetary policy transmission, financial stability and the smooth functioning of payment systems.
Beyond technical design questions, the Appia roadmap will also examine broader economic and geopolitical factors. This includes assessing the trade-offs between creating a single shared DLT network for European finance or multiple interconnected systems.
The project builds on exploratory work conducted by the Eurosystem in 2024 on new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement. The ECB and national central banks are now seeking feedback from industry, academia and public institutions as the initiative moves into its analytical phase.
The roadmap signals a growing focus among central banks on the infrastructure underpinning tokenised finance, rather than simply the digital representation of money itself.
Related: Lagarde Puts Digital Euro and Tokenised Money at Heart of ECB Strategy