BlockBeats News, May 5th, Italian Deputy Governor of the Central Bank Chiara Scotti stated that Europe should assess the feasibility of extending the Single Euro Payments Area to tokenized payments to maintain the euro's central position in the digital financial system.

Scotti pointed out that SEPA has the advantages of scale, standardization, and interoperability, making it an important foundation for tokenized payments. At the same time, the European Central Bank is advancing several related projects, including the settlement pilot based on distributed ledger technology "Pontes" (expected to launch in the third quarter of 2026) and the long-term roadmap for a tokenized financial system "Appia" (planned to be completed by 2028).

The ECB has repeatedly warned of the risks of stablecoins, believing that their widespread adoption could lead to bank deposit outflows, weaken bank financing capacity, and pose a potential threat to euro currency sovereignty. Officials emphasized that introducing tokenized central bank money could be a key infrastructure to support the coexistence of tokenized deposits and stablecoins.