The ECB announced on 28 October that the public consultation on the Appia roadmap drew 127 responses, with broad support for a European tokenised finance ecosystem anchored in central bank money. Respondents backed interoperability, standardisation, a coordinating role for the Eurosystem and harmonised EU rules. The Eurosystem will now invite market participants into workstreams on tokenised deposits and payments, tokenised securities and shared network governance. The work will feed into the Appia blueprint expected in 2028.

What it means: Appia is the Eurosystem's long-term answer to how financial markets will work when bonds, shares and deposits circulate as tokens. The core idea is that final settlement should take place in central bank money, as it does today through TARGET2, rather than in private stablecoins, so that risk is not shifted onto private issuers. Strong participation in the consultation shows that banks, depositories and technology providers want to shape the plan early, as it will determine which standards and technologies dominate in Europe. The recent digital bond issued by the European Stability Mechanism through the Pontes infrastructure shows that the short-term solution already works; Appia is about the next step. For Greek banks, Athens Exchange and the Hellenic Central Securities Depository, joining the workstreams is a chance not to remain spectators in decisions that will affect their infrastructure. For businesses, practical changes such as faster bond issuance or round-the-clock settlement are years rather than months away.

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