Overview
- Isabel Schnabel, who spoke on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, told the Jackson Hole symposium that central banks should place reserves on distributed ledgers so they can operate inside tokenised markets.
- She said programmable reserves would let central banks automate repo and collateral rules, apply differentiated interest rates and deliver liquidity more quickly during market strain.
- Schnabel warned faster, atomic settlement could raise intraday liquidity needs and trigger quicker margin calls, which makes flexible central-bank liquidity provision more important.
- The ECB is testing technical options through Project Pontes, which will link DLT platforms to TARGET services, and Project Appia, which is exploring longer‑term architecture and legal standards.
- Policymakers still face a choice between a single European ledger that maximises atomic settlement and linked ledgers that spread risk, and Schnabel argued central‑bank reserves are preferable to private stablecoins for final settlement because central banks can expand liquidity in stress.