Banque de France and Euroclear to tokenise short-term debt
13 October 2025 France, Belgium
Image: bm_photo/stock.adobe.com
Banque de France and Euroclear have unveiled a joint project, Pythagore, to tokenise Negotiable European Commercial Paper (NEU CP), representing a key move toward streamlining short-term debt markets through distributed ledger technology (DLT).
The tokenisation project intends to provide central operational and administrative efficiencies, while improving transparency and security for market participants.
The pilot phase of the project is slated to begin at the end of 2026, in accordance with the start of the Eurosystem project, and plans to introduce an interconnected wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) with TARGET services.
Euroclear’s DLT-based platform will be tailored with interoperability at its centre, in order to facilitate seamless integration across financial infrastructures.
The combined effort draws on the foundation of a previous innovation collaboration between Euroclear and Banque de France, that enabled the issuance of France’s first digitally native note in November 2024.
Isabelle Delorme, head of product strategy and innovation at Euroclear, says: "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."
Emmanuelle Assouan, director general for financial stability and operations at Banque de France, says: "The NEU CP market is the largest and already the most transparent short-term debt market in the euro area. Banque de France is mobilized to further strengthen its attractiveness at European level alongside issuers, investors and financial intermediaries, particularly with a view to creating a savings and investment union.
“The Pythagore project to tokenise the NEU CP market is fully in line with this ambition of an even more automated and transparent market. It constitutes a strategic segment for deploying the Eurosystem wholesale central bank digital currency from 2026 onwards"
The tokenisation project intends to provide central operational and administrative efficiencies, while improving transparency and security for market participants.
The pilot phase of the project is slated to begin at the end of 2026, in accordance with the start of the Eurosystem project, and plans to introduce an interconnected wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) with TARGET services.
Euroclear’s DLT-based platform will be tailored with interoperability at its centre, in order to facilitate seamless integration across financial infrastructures.
The combined effort draws on the foundation of a previous innovation collaboration between Euroclear and Banque de France, that enabled the issuance of France’s first digitally native note in November 2024.
Isabelle Delorme, head of product strategy and innovation at Euroclear, says: "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."
Emmanuelle Assouan, director general for financial stability and operations at Banque de France, says: "The NEU CP market is the largest and already the most transparent short-term debt market in the euro area. Banque de France is mobilized to further strengthen its attractiveness at European level alongside issuers, investors and financial intermediaries, particularly with a view to creating a savings and investment union.
“The Pythagore project to tokenise the NEU CP market is fully in line with this ambition of an even more automated and transparent market. It constitutes a strategic segment for deploying the Eurosystem wholesale central bank digital currency from 2026 onwards"
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