A coalition of 39 prominent European financial institutions and tech companies is urging lawmakers to accelerate the revision of regulations governing distributed ledger technology, cautioning that the region may lag behind the US in the digital finance sector. In a joint letter addressed to the European Commission and Parliament, signatories including Boerse Stuttgart Group, Nasdaq, and various EU fintech associations requested that the digital ledger technology pilot regime be decoupled from a broader legislative package currently under review. This, they argue, would enable more rapid updates, as reported by Bloomberg.
The DLT pilot, which has been in place since 2023, permits companies to experiment with the trading and settlement of tokenized assets, such as shares and bonds, using blockchain technology. However, it is currently part of a larger set of 18 financial laws navigating the EU's legislative process, a journey that industry groups warn could take several years. The coalition is advocating for practical reforms, including the expansion of permissible asset types, the increase of transaction limits to 150 billion euros, and the elimination of license expiry dates. These changes, they contend, would provide companies with the necessary flexibility to establish full-fledged markets rather than limited trials.
This development comes as the US is shaping its own laws to regulate the space, including the proposed Genius Act, aimed at further integrating crypto into mainstream finance. The European Commission has indicated a preference for passing the entire legislative package collectively as part of its broader strategy to mobilize savings into investments.