Title: 39 financial giants urge EU to fast-track blockchain pilot as digital finance race with U.S. heats up
A coalition of 39 financial and technology firms — including Boerse Stuttgart Group, Nasdaq and several national fintech associations — has formally called on EU lawmakers to fast-track changes to Europe’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) pilot. In a letter to the European Commission and Parliament, signatories warned that keeping the pilot tied to a wider legislative package risks leaving Europe trailing the U.S. in next‑generation finance.
The DLT pilot, launched in 2023, lets firms test tokenized versions of assets such as shares and bonds on blockchain networks to trade and settle in a more automated way. Today the pilot is wrapped into a sweeping bundle of 18 financial laws moving through the EU’s legislative process — a pathway industry groups say could take years to complete.
To accelerate market development, the coalition wants the DLT pilot unbundled and updated immediately. Their proposals include:
- Expanding the types of assets eligible for tokenization;
- Increasing transaction caps to €150 billion ($176 billion);
- Removing expiry dates on DLT licenses so experiments can evolve into lasting infrastructure.
Supporters argue these changes would let firms build meaningful, liquid tokenized markets rather than small, time‑boxed trials. They say quicker, targeted rule changes would enable Europe to scale digital-asset infrastructure and remain competitive as U.S. lawmakers advance bills like the Genius Act to integrate crypto into mainstream finance.
The European Commission, however, has signaled a preference to pass the full legislative package together as part of its wider agenda to channel savings into investments — a stance that leaves the request for an emergency fast-track unresolved. With both sides dug in, the future timeline for DLT rule changes in Europe remains uncertain — and the region’s place in the global digital finance race hangs in the balance.
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