A coalition of 39 prominent European financial institutions and tech groups is pressing EU lawmakers to accelerate the revision of distributed ledger technology regulations, cautioning that the region may lag behind the US in the digital finance sector. In a joint letter, signatories including Boerse Stuttgart Group, Nasdaq, and various EU fintech associations asked the European Commission and Parliament to detach the DLT pilot regime from a broader legislative package currently under review. This would enable quicker updates, as reported by Bloomberg.
Established in 2023, the DLT pilot allows firms to test the trading and settlement of tokenized assets like shares and bonds using blockchains. However, it is part of a larger set of 18 financial laws progressing through the EU's legislative process, which industry groups claim could take years to complete. The coalition is advocating for practical reforms, including the expansion of permitted asset types, increasing transaction limits to 150 billion euros, and eliminating license expiry dates. These changes, they argue, would provide firms with the flexibility to develop substantial markets rather than limited trials.
The letter comes as the US is shaping laws to regulate the space, including the 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 plan to mobilize savings into investments.