A coalition of 39 European financial institutions and tech companies is pressing EU lawmakers to accelerate the revision of distributed ledger technology regulations, cautioning that the region may lag behind the US in digital finance if changes are not made promptly. In a joint letter 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 detached from a broader legislative package currently under review. This would enable faster updates, according to Bloomberg. The DLT pilot, introduced in 2023, allows companies to experiment with tokenized assets like shares and bonds on blockchains.
However, it is part of a larger set of 18 financial laws progressing through the EU's legislative process, which industry groups warn could take years to complete. The coalition is advocating for practical reforms, including the expansion of permissible assets, increasing transaction limits to 150 billion euros, and eliminating license expiry dates.
These changes, they argue, would provide companies with the necessary space to develop substantial markets rather than limited trials. This appeal comes as the US is shaping its regulatory framework for the space, including the proposed Genius Act aimed at integrating crypto into mainstream finance.
The European Commission, however, has indicated a preference for passing the entire legislative package together as part of its strategy to channel savings into investments.