Pontes

Pontes is the Eurosystem’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) solution that links market DLT platforms and TARGET Services to settle transactions in central bank money. The project builds on the successful results of the exploratory work on new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement.

Focus Session: Advancing TARGET Services with DLT transactions in central bank money – presentation on Pontes

The Eurosystem will launch a pilot for Pontes by the third quarter of 2026.

Why Pontes?

With the Pontes project, the Eurosystem will continue to:

• support market needs and innovation;
• preserve the pivotal role of central bank money in the financial system as the safest means of settlement;
• maintain the Eurosystem’s relevance amid rapid technological and financial change;
• move further towards a digital capital markets union and savings and investments union in Europe.

How will Pontes work?

Pontes will combine the features of the three interoperability solutions used during the exploratory work. It will operate as a dual-settlement model: participants will be able to settle transactions on the Eurosystem DLT platform with cash tokens, or in T2, the Eurosystem’s real-time gross settlement system. The settlement of the cash leg of transactions will ultimately be carried out once the corresponding settlement is completed in T2.

Pontes will use a reliable interoperability mechanism, enabling delivery versus payment. The solution also supports enhanced automation through end-to-end processing and seamless interaction with T2.

How to participate

The Eurosystem is finalising the eligibility criteria for assets, market participants and market DLT operators for the pilot phase. Additional information on the eligibility criteria and how to participate can be found in the material from our Focus Session.