Bundesbank Trigger Solution
The trigger solution of the Deutsche Bundesbank links distributed ledger platforms run by the market with T2, the payment system of the Eurosystem for large euro transfers. A securities trade agreed on a ledger triggers a payment in central bank money, and the payment books on the existing T2 accounts of the banks involved, so they keep using their liquidity and need no new cash account.
The Bundesbank developed a first version in 2021 with Deutsche Börse and the German Finance Agency. In 2024 it was one of three interoperability solutions in the Eurosystem exploratory work, next to the solutions of Banca d'Italia and Banque de France, and 25 institutions used it in 23 trials and experiments.
How the trigger solution works
A DLT platform records the security leg of a trade, for example the delivery of a tokenized bond from seller to buyer. When the trade is ready, the platform sends a payment instruction in the ISO 20022 format to the trigger solution, which passes it to T2, and the cash moves between the RTGS dedicated cash accounts of the two banks. The confirmation from T2 goes back to the ledger, which then completes the delivery of the security.
The banks need no tokens of central bank money and no account in a new system, because the cash leg stays in T2, and a separate RTGS account for DLT business is possible but optional. The trigger solution works with different ledgers, so the trials ran on platforms as different as the bank network SWIAT, the D7 platform of Clearstream and the ledger of Boerse Stuttgart.
Why DLT trades need central bank money
A trade on a ledger needs a cash leg that buyer and seller both accept without doubt. Commercial bank money on the ledger, such as tokenized deposits, and e-money tokens carry the credit risk of their issuer, while central bank money carries none. The EU rules for central securities depositories in the CSDR prefer settlement in central bank money wherever it is practical and available.
Before the trigger solution, a DLT platform had no direct way to reach T2, so tokenized securities settled against commercial bank money or with a cash payment outside the ledger. The trigger solution connects the ledger to T2 without a new payment system, and the Bundesbank therefore calls it an interoperability solution.
Upcoming events on tokenized securities in Germany
The 2024 trials with the Bundesbank trigger solution
The list of trials and experiments published by the Bundesbank counts 23 explorations: 15 trials with real bookings in T2 and 8 experiments in the T2 test environment. 25 institutions took part, 20 as market participants and 11 as DLT operators, and nine redemptions of securities issued in the trials followed until the end of November 2024.
The first trial on 28 June and 1 July 2024 settled commercial paper with Clearstream, DekaBank and DZ BANK. On 3 September 2024 Siemens issued a digital corporate bond under the Electronic Securities Act on SWIAT, bought by DekaBank, Deutsche Bank, BayernLB, DZ BANK, Helaba and LBBW. On 7 November Deutsche Bank and UBS tested tokenized deposits for corporate payments, and from 26 to 28 November Clearstream Banking S.A., Goldman Sachs, Eurex Repo and HQLAx closed two triparty intraday repos.
Trigger solution and the ECB
The ECB announced the exploratory work on 28 April 2023, and the Bundesbank presented the trigger solution at an ECB focus session on 15 December 2023. The work ended on 29 November 2024, and on 1 July 2025 the ECB announced two follow-up tracks: Pontes for settlement now and Appia for the long-term design of a tokenized market.
Pontes started on 21 September 2026 and, in the words of the ECB, combines "the strengths of the three interoperability solutions previously explored". Like the trigger solution, Pontes settles the cash leg of a DLT transaction in T2, either directly or with cash tokens on a DLT platform of the Eurosystem.
Trigger solution of the Deutsche Bundesbank in Frankfurt
The trigger solution team of the Deutsche Bundesbank works at the central office in Frankfurt am Main, Mainzer Landstraße 16. The Bundesbank shares further technical specifications only with participants of the exploratory phase, and it updated the process, user requirement and onboarding documents to version 2.0 in November 2025.
Trigger solution and Finance Loop
Finance Loop covers settlement in central bank money in its Payments & Digital Money track, together with wholesale CBDC, tokenized deposits and Pontes. Finance Loop meets in Frankfurt, the seat of the Bundesbank and the ECB, with people from the banks, market infrastructures and DLT operators that took part in the trials.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.