A coalition of 39 European financial firms and tech groups is pressing lawmakers to accelerate the revision of distributed ledger technology regulations, cautioning that the EU is at risk of lagging behind the US in the digital finance sector. In a joint letter to the European Commission and Parliament, signatories including Boerse Stuttgart Group, Nasdaq, and various EU fintech associations, are advocating for the separation of the DLT pilot regime from a larger package of 18 financial laws currently under review.
By handling the DLT rules independently, the firms argue that updates can be implemented more swiftly. The DLT pilot, launched in 2023, enables companies to experiment with tokenized assets and blockchain-based trading and settlement. However, as part of a broader legislative package, the process may take years to complete.
The industry groups are pushing for practical reforms, such as expanding the range of permissible assets, increasing transaction limits to 150 billion euros, and eliminating license expiry dates. These changes, they contend, would provide firms with the necessary flexibility to establish substantial markets rather than limited trials.
The letter comes at a time when the US is shaping its regulatory framework for the industry, 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 as a single entity, as part of its strategy to mobilize savings and stimulate investment.