ECB’s Schnabel Urges Onchain Central-Bank Money

European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel has called for central-bank money to be brought onto blockchain infrastructure, arguing that the programmability of distributed ledgers could modernize how the central bank implements monetary policy and manages collateral and liquidity, according to Bloomberg. The remarks amount to one of the clearest signals yet from a senior euro-area official that the region’s monetary authority intends to settle real central-bank money on blockchain-based systems.

The Push Toward Programmable Central-Bank Money

Schnabel’s comments point toward a system in which programmable central-bank money can be settled directly alongside tokenized assets issued by regulated financial institutions. The ECB has been exploring wholesale settlement on distributed ledgers for more than two years, an effort first detailed in early 2024 when the Eurosystem began testing blockchain-based wholesale transactions. Schnabel framed programmability as a tool to update monetary-policy implementation, collateral management, and liquidity provision, core functions that still run through traditional settlement rails. Moving the euro itself onto blockchain infrastructure, rather than merely studying the technology, would mark a significant step toward tokenized finance in the region.

Pontes Next Month, Appia Blueprint in 2028

The near-term plan is concrete. Bloomberg reported that the ECB will launch its Pontes initiative next month to connect distributed-ledger platforms with the bank’s existing TARGET payment and settlement services, the backbone of euro-area interbank payments. A blueprint for Appia, the longer-term effort to overhaul the region’s settlement infrastructure, is expected in 2028. Schnabel said the ECB is still evaluating different models, including a unified ledger or a design that links multiple ledgers, which means the final architecture has not yet been settled.

What It Means for Europe’s Digital Money Race

The remarks add urgency to a debate the ECB is already having about the future of digital money. President Christine Lagarde warned in May that policymakers risk mistaking stablecoins for the broader question of what modern financial infrastructure actually requires. Schnabel’s intervention signals the institution is now leaning toward putting that infrastructure onchain. Bloomberg did not specify a launch date for onchain central-bank settlement beyond Pontes’s planned start next month, and the eventual design, whether a unified ledger or interoperable networks, remains an open question.