Eurosystem Leaves Appia Network Design Open After 127 Responses

The Eurosystem has not selected a network architecture for Appia, its planned tokenized wholesale-finance framework, following a consultation that drew 127 responses and left the project’s central design question open before broader testing in 2027.

The consultation ran from March 11 to April 22, 2026, and drew responses from public- and private-sector stakeholders. The Eurosystem published the findings on Oct. 28; they summarize stakeholder views without setting a preferred design.

Respondents said one network could concentrate liquidity, reduce fragmentation and simplify governance. They also raised risks tied to concentrated market power, dependence on a single technology and weaker incentives to innovate. The consultation surfaced a trade-off between consolidating activity and limiting concentration and lock-in risks.

A multi-network system could fit different business models but would need stronger connections between platforms. It could also split liquidity, collateral and compliance across the networks. Some respondents proposed allowing central bank money settlement on a limited number of eligible networks under common standards. No network model, eligibility criteria or operator has been selected. The Eurosystem continues to assess how it could make central bank money available across several networks while retaining control.

Appia is the Eurosystem’s longer-term effort to develop an integrated framework for tokenized wholesale finance. The work includes architecture, standards and governance. More complex, cross-cutting tests are planned for 2027, leading toward a blueprint targeted for 2028.

Pontes is a separate, near-term service connecting market distributed-ledger platforms with the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services. It has supported settlement of wholesale transactions in tokenized assets using central bank money since Sept. 21, 2026. Operating hours are planned to expand significantly by mid-2027, with 24/7/365 availability planned for 2028. Immediate settlement finality on the Eurosystem’s distributed-ledger technology platform is planned as early as 2027.

ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said the infrastructure challenge is coexistence: “The real challenge is to enable them to coexist.” He was referring to existing and new financial infrastructure.

The next Appia milestone is the cross-cutting testing phase planned for 2027, ahead of the blueprint targeted for 2028.