A coalition of 39 prominent European financial firms and tech groups is pressing lawmakers to accelerate the revision of distributed ledger technology regulations, cautioning that the region is in danger of lagging behind the US in the digital finance sector. In a joint letter addressed to the European Commission and Parliament, signatories including Boerse Stuttgart Group, Nasdaq, and various EU fintech associations have requested that the DLT pilot regime be separated 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 swiftly, according to Bloomberg. The DLT pilot, which has been in place since 2023, enables companies to experiment with the trading and settlement of tokenized assets such as shares and bonds using blockchain technology. However, as part of a larger set of financial laws making their way through the EU's legislative process, industry groups warn that this could be a years-long process.
The coalition is advocating for practical reforms, including the expansion of permissible assets, the increase of transaction limits to 150 billion euros, and the elimination of license expiry dates. These changes, they contend, would provide firms with the necessary latitude to establish substantial 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 further integrating crypto into mainstream finance. The European Commission has indicated a preference for passing the entire legislative package as a unified whole, in line with its broader strategy to mobilize savings into investment.