O brave new world, that has such digitalisation in it
Published as part of the Macroprudential Bulletin 33, April 2026.
Tokenisation and distributed ledger technology (DLT) are moving from concept to early-scale deployment in European and global financial markets. This [33rd] issue of the Macroprudential Bulletin is therefore dedicated to advances in digital innovation. In both the public and private domains, new technologies offering improved settlement processes and programmability features have the potential to reshape financial systems. Tokenised financial instruments currently only represent a fraction of traditional financial markets, and uncertainty remains regarding the extent to which they will develop at scale and deliver the intended benefits.[1] Nevertheless, their rapid growth combined with recent advances in technology and the growing participation of a wider set of actors provides an opportunity for reflecting on their future potential. In the meantime, public authorities also play a key role in supporting innovation while maintaining trust and confidence in this transformative journey by providing a robust regulatory framework, supportive infrastructure and safe settlement assets.
When looking at the financial digital assets[2] landscape, it is useful to draw a distinction between settlement assets and traded assets issued by public or private entities. Settlement assets can, in principle, be issued by public and private entities. Public settlement assets include retail and wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), while private settlement assets include tokenised[3] deposits and stablecoins.[4] Traded assets fall into two categories: tokenised traditional assets and unbacked crypto-assets. Traditional assets that can be tokenised include both financial instruments, such as bonds and equities, and non-financial assets, for example real estate (Figure 1).
Figure 1
The digital assets landscape
Source: Adapted from the article entitled “At the digital money junction” on Deutsche Bank’s website.
Notes: This taxonomy focuses on assets that play a role within the evolving digital asset landscape and does not include established forms of public and private money, securities, commodities, etc.
Payment or settlement assets are assets or claims on assets that a beneficiary accepts for the final settlement of an obligation. Trading or investment assets are a security or financial instrument held for investment, income generation, hedging or speculation.
This issue of the Macroprudential Bulletin explores the opportunities and challenges presented by Europe’s rapidly evolving digital financial ecosystem. First, it looks ahead to how advances in digital technologies – specifically tokenisation and DLT – could support the development of the savings and investments union. This could be the case if enablers such as having central bank money on chain, harmonising the regulatory framework and developing secondary markets lead to a wider adoption (Article 2). It also assesses how the growing prevalence of stablecoins issued under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR)[5] might influence sovereign bond markets, and examines how MiCAR’s deposit requirements can act as both a shock absorber and a source of contagion to banks (Article 5). Second, it offers an assessment of the current state of tokenisation for selected asset classes (Article 2 presents an overview of the current tokenisation landscape, Article 3 covers tokenised bonds and Article 4 discusses tokenised MMFs), providing a comprehensive overview of where the market stands today (Figure 1).
Taken together, the articles in this issue outline a coherent policy message: digital innovation in the form of tokenisation and DLT can support deeper, more integrated and more efficient European Union (EU) capital markets, but its benefits will only be realised safely if European policy action keeps pace in three key areas.
First, central bank money, as the trusted risk-free settlement asset, remains the cornerstone of stability and integration within this evolving landscape. The financial system of the future is expected to accommodate multiple forms of money, encompassing both public and private assets. The Eurosystem is actively helping to shape the financial system of the future,[6] with initiatives to enable new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement[7] and to investigate the potential acceptance of DLT-based assets as eligible Eurosystem collateral.[8]
Second, the unique opportunities offered by recent technological advances can drive the development of efficient and integrated digital capital markets based on a unified set of rules across Europe. Recent advances in technology, along with increased private sector engagement, provide an opportunity to fully realise the potential benefits of tokenisation – greater efficiency, more liquidity and better overall functioning of financial markets – that are already starting to materialise. For this to happen, it is essential to create an innovative and integrated tokenised financial ecosystem in Europe from the outset, avoiding an uncoordinated proliferation of non-interoperable systems that would perpetuate fragmentation. These reflections are at the core of the Eurosystem investigation conducted under Appia, a forward-looking initiative aimed at designing a long-term approach for the European financial market.[9] Furthermore, it will be key to avoid that the fragmentation that still remains for traditional assets hampers the development of an integrated market for tokenised assets. This would mean harmonising certain definitions (such as providing a definition of deposits in EU Regulation) and addressing key aspects supporting scalability of traditional and tokenised assets throughout the EU (regarding custody, asset servicing and tax-related processes, for example).
Third, a robust and supportive European regulatory and macroprudential framework supports financial integration and the resilience of digital assets. The EU has played a pioneering role in shaping the regulatory landscape for digital assets. MiCAR establishes a harmonised framework for issuers of stablecoins and other crypto‑asset service providers, while the EU’s DLT Pilot Regime creates a regulated space for experimentation with DLT‑based market infrastructures. These frameworks provide legal clarity and supervision, supporting innovation within well‑defined safeguards. By continuing to embrace financial innovation and adapting to new developments, the EU can position itself to create a unified, competitive and resilient digital financial ecosystem that is equipped to meet future challenges. This will ensure that innovation strengthens – rather than undermines – financial stability and the financing of Europe’s long‑term priorities. For prudential authorities, this means identifying, measuring and mitigating new risks and interconnections as they emerge, both within the digital asset ecosystem and between this new ecosystem and the traditional financial market.
Tokenised assets on public blockchains, which are a subset of distributed ledgers, achieved an estimated global market capitalisation of USD 45 billion by February 2026. While this remains a small fraction of the traditional financial global markets’ size, it is growing rapidly, having increased from USD 8.4 billion at the beginning of 2024.
Throughout this issue of the Macroprudential Bulletin, the term “digital assets” (which is not defined in European Union legislation) is used in a broad sense as including also tokenised traditional assets – in line with how this is often used in practice, while the term crypto-assets is used in a narrower way as referring only to unbacked crypto-assets such as bitcoin or stablecoins.
Tokenisation is the process of creating a digital representation of assets by converting them into, or issuing them as, programmable tokens. These tokens carry information and rules for the assets they represent.
Stablecoins can differ by issuer type, denomination and token design. Under European legislation (the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation – MiCAR), stablecoins are classified as either electronic money tokens (“e-money tokens” – EMTs) or asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) based on their underlying value stabilisation mechanism. EMTs referencing an official currency are issued either by banks or electronic money institutions (EMIs) and can be denominated in euro or in foreign currency.
See “Eurosystem’s comprehensive payment strategy”, published on 31 March 2026.
See “Tokenisation and DLT” on the ECB’s website and Pontes which aims to deliver a central bank money settlement solution by the end of the third quarter of 2026.
See the ECB press release of 27 January 2026 entitled “ECB paves way for acceptance of DLT-based assets as eligible Eurosystem collateral”.
See the ECB press release published on 11 March 2026 entitled: “Appia – paving the way for a future-ready, integrated financial ecosystem leveraging tokenisation and DLT”.