A coalition of 39 prominent European financial institutions and technology groups is urging lawmakers to accelerate the revision of regulations governing distributed ledger technology, citing the risk of the region falling behind the US in the digital finance landscape. In a joint letter addressed 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 broader 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, which has been in place since 2023, enables companies to experiment with the use of blockchains for the trading and settlement of tokenized assets such as shares and bonds. However, the pilot is currently part of a larger legislative package that is navigating the EU's legislative process, a journey that industry groups warn could take several years to complete. The coalition is seeking practical reforms, including the expansion of permissible asset types, the increase of transaction limits to 150 billion euros, and the elimination of license expiry dates. These proposed changes are intended to provide companies with the flexibility to establish substantial markets rather than merely conducting small-scale trials.
The push for regulatory adjustments comes as the US is shaping its own laws to govern the space, including the Genius Act, aimed at further integrating crypto into mainstream finance. The European Commission has indicated a preference for passing the comprehensive legislative package as a unified whole, as part of its broader strategy to mobilize savings into investment.