[Eurozone DLT Settlement Project Pontes Set to Launch on September 21, Supporting Tokenized Securities Settlement in Central Bank Money] According to Ledger Insights, the Eurozone Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) settlement project Pontes is scheduled to go live on September 21. Clearstream has announced its participation in end-to-end testing prior to the launch, covering system connectivity, settlement processes, and operational readiness. Axiology is also advancing its testing and certification efforts, with test scenarios including securities issuance, secondary market trading, redemption, and coupon payments. Pontes is positioned as an interoperability 'bridge,' connecting multiple market DLT platforms to the Eurozone TARGET services. It supports wholesale transactions such as the settlement of tokenized securities in central bank money and enables synchronized settlement, such as delivery versus payment (DvP), through a mechanism called Hash-Link, which is similar to hash-locked escrow. In the initial phase of the launch, the finality of fund settlements will be achieved after the corresponding fund transfers are completed in the T2 system. Notably, the European Central Bank has removed this project from its...