Leading European financial institutions and tech companies are pressing for swift changes to regulations governing distributed ledger technology, cautioning that the region may lag behind the US in the digital finance sector. In a joint letter, 39 prominent signatories, including Boerse Stuttgart Group and Nasdaq, have appealed to the European Commission and Parliament to detach the DLT pilot regime from a broader package of 18 financial laws currently under review. By handling these rules independently, the firms argue that updates can be implemented more rapidly. The DLT pilot, launched in 2023, enables companies to experiment with the trading and settlement of tokenized assets, such as shares and bonds, using blockchain technology.
However, the pilot is part of a larger legislative package that may take years to pass. The industry coalition is advocating for practical reforms, including the expansion of permitted assets, increased transaction limits to 150 billion euros, and the removal of license expiry dates. These changes, they contend, would allow firms to establish genuine 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 integrating crypto into mainstream finance.
The European Commission has indicated a preference for passing the entire legislative package together as part of its broader strategy to mobilize savings into investment.