Banque de France and Euroclear announced today the launch of a joint project (‘Pythagore’) to tokenise Negotiable European Commercial Paper (NEU CP), marking a significant step toward modernising short-term debt markets through distributed ledger technology (DLT).
The NEU CP market represents the largest short-term debt market in the euro area with €310 billion outstanding, offering issuers competitive financing conditions, market depth, and low documentation costs. It represents a very efficient way to steer short-term liquidity efficiently.
The tokenisation initiative aims to deliver significant operational and administrative efficiencies, while enhancing transparency and security for market participants.
The pilot phase of the project is scheduled to start at the end of 2026, in line with the start of the Eurosystem project (‘Pontes’) and aims to roll out an interconnected wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) with TARGET services. Euroclear’s DLT-based platform will be designed with interoperability at its core, supporting seamless integration across financial infrastructures.
This joint effort builds upon the strong foundation of prior innovation cooperation between Euroclear and Banque de France that facilitated in November 2024 the issuance of France’s first digitally native note.
“Euroclear has a long-standing presence in France’s financial ecosystem, and we are proud to drive innovation alongside Banque de France. Tokenising NEU CP is a strategic step toward building a more modern, efficient, resilient, and interconnected market infrastructure. By enhancing transparency and operational efficiency, this initiative will reinforce France’s position as a leading hub for short-term financing and make its market even more attractive to issuers and investors.” – Isabelle Delorme, Head of Product Strategy and Innovation at Euroclear.
