A coalition of 39 European financial institutions and tech companies is pressing lawmakers to accelerate the reform 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 have urged the European Commission and Parliament to separate the DLT pilot regime from a broader package of 18 financial laws currently under review. According to the companies, handling the DLT rules independently would enable more rapid updates, as reported by Bloomberg.
The DLT pilot, introduced in 2023, allows firms to experiment with tokenized assets, such as shares and bonds, using blockchain technology for trading and settlement. Currently, the DLT pilot is part of a larger set of 18 financial laws making their way through the EU's legislative process, a journey that industry groups claim could take several years. The coalition is advocating for practical reforms, including the expansion of permissible asset types, increasing transaction limits to 150 billion euros ($176 billion), and eliminating license expiry dates.
These changes, they argue, would provide firms with the necessary room to establish substantial markets rather than limited trials. The letter comes at a time when the US is shaping its regulatory landscape, 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 together as part of its broader strategy to mobilize savings and stimulate investment.