Italian Central Bank Official Suggests Evaluating SEPA Tokenized Payments to Address Stablecoin Competition

On May 5, Chiara Scotti, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Italy, stated that Europe should assess the feasibility of extending the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) to include tokenized payments in order to maintain the euro’s core position in the digital financial system. Scotti pointed out that SEPA has advantages in scale, standardization, and interoperability, which could serve as an important foundation for tokenized payments. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) is advancing several related projects, including the distributed ledger-based settlement pilot ‘Pontes’ (expected to launch in the third quarter of 2026) and a long-term roadmap for a tokenized financial system ‘Appia’ (scheduled for completion in 2028). The ECB has previously warned about the risks of stablecoins, believing that their widespread adoption could lead to a drain of bank deposits, weaken banks’ financing capabilities, and pose a potential threat to the monetary sovereignty of the euro. Officials emphasized that the introduction of tokenized central bank money may become a key infrastructure to support the coexistence of tokenized deposits and stablecoins.