The Eurosystem begins accepting marketable assets issued through central securities depositories using distributed ledger technology as eligible collateral for credit operations on March 30, 2026. The decision, announced by the ECB Governing Council in January, marks the first time tokenised securities can be used in the Eurosystem's monetary policy framework.
DLT-issued assets must meet the same eligibility criteria as conventional marketable assets, including compliance with the CSD Regulation and availability for settlement through securities settlement systems reachable via TARGET2-Securities. This requirement ensures that DLT-issued collateral operates within the existing settlement infrastructure rather than creating a parallel framework.
European issuers have placed close to EUR 4 billion in DLT-based fixed-income instruments since 2021, including sovereign debt issuances by EU member states. The collateral acceptance decision transforms these instruments from market curiosities into operationally useful assets for bank treasuries, as they can now be pledged for central bank liquidity.
The collateral decision is the first component of a broader ECB strategy laid out in publications and speeches through March 2026. ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone outlined the full scope at the House of the Euro in Brussels on March 23, describing the infrastructure initiatives designed to support tokenised financial markets in Europe. The Eurosystem's Pontes solution, a bridge between market DLT platforms and TARGET Services, is scheduled for launch in Q3 2026. The system will enable participants buying tokenised assets to settle the cash leg in central bank money, providing the same settlement finality that T2 offers for conventional transactions.
The ECB published the Appia roadmap on March 11, setting a 2028 target for a comprehensive integrated European tokenised financial market. Appia addresses the fragmentation problem that has limited DLT adoption in European capital markets, where multiple incompatible platforms prevent the interoperability needed for secondary market liquidity. The roadmap envisions Pontes as the settlement foundation, with additional functionalities added in stages based on market feedback.
The practical sequence is clear. From March 30, banks can use DLT assets as collateral. From Q3 2026, they can settle DLT transactions in central bank money through Pontes. By 2028, Appia aims to connect these capabilities into an integrated market infrastructure. Cipollone framed the initiative in strategic terms, noting that nearly two-thirds of card transactions in Europe are processed by non-European schemes. The tokenisation infrastructure represents the Eurosystem's effort to ensure that the next generation of financial market infrastructure remains under European control.
For banks with DLT-issued assets on their balance sheets, the March 30 effective date creates immediate operational value. For the broader market, the timeline from collateral acceptance through Pontes to the Appia target provides a three-year window to prepare for what the ECB envisions as a structural change in how European securities are issued, traded, and settled.