What happened
- Specific facts/numbers: The Eurosystem says Pontes is planned for an initial launch in the third quarter of 2026, and the broader DLT exploratory work it builds on involved 64 participants running more than 50 trials and experiments in 2024.
- Institutions involved: The European Central Bank and the Eurosystem are leading Project Pontes, which links market DLT platforms with TARGET Services and is aimed at eligible T2-access participants and authorised central securities depositories.
- Regulatory/technical context: Pontes is designed as a single Eurosystem solution with a dual settlement model: transactions can settle either with cash tokens on the Eurosystem DLT platform or in T2, the Eurosystem’s RTGS system, with settlement finality for the cash leg achieved in T2; interoperability for DvP is supported via the Hash-Link protocol.
- What to watch next: Watch for the Pontes pilot launch in Q3 2026 and any further enhancements, trials, or experiments the Eurosystem may approve before launch; beyond that, no more specific next milestone was identified in the material read.
Why it matters
The story shows that even where wholesale CBDC-like tokenized central bank money is introduced, incumbent RTGS-linked trigger mechanisms still matter because they provide legal finality, operational continuity, and interoperability for tokenized wholesale transactions.
HKMA Relevance
Indirect: Pontes is a major central-bank-money settlement design for tokenized wholesale markets, offering a reference point for how other central banks, including in Hong Kong, may balance tokenized money with existing RTGS infrastructure.