ECB advances digital euro, Pontes, and Appia projects

The European Central Bank is simultaneously advancing three major initiatives to counter the rise of dollar-denominated stablecoins. The ECB has opened applications for e-commerce merchants to participate in a digital euro pilot scheduled for the second half of 2027, with a deadline of October 27 at 17:00 CET. Additionally, the Pontes project, which connects blockchain platforms to the Eurosystem's TARGET infrastructure, entered production on September 21. Meanwhile, the Appia project is currently focused on developing the architecture for 2028.