EU finance groups push to remove tokenized securities cap
A coalition of European finance and tokenization groups has asked EU lawmakers to eliminate a proposed 100 billion euro cap on assets admitted to distributed ledger technology (DLT) infrastructure, or to raise any remaining ceiling to at least 500 billion euros. The draft letter, dated Sept. 7 and sent to EU Council members and the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, was signed by firms including Nasdaq, Boerse Stuttgart Group, Securitize, the European Ethereum Institute and Axiology.
Why It Matters
The dispute matters because the cap would limit the market value of instruments that can be moved onto DLT platforms, potentially constraining growth of regulated on‑chain markets in Europe; industry groups warn this could push liquidity toward larger US platforms that face no comparable volume ceilings. Changes to the DLT Pilot Regime will shape who controls large-scale tokenization and where institutional issuance and settlement activity concentrates.
Key Facts
- Date of draft letter: Sept. 7
- Requested change: Remove 100 billion euro cap or raise it to at least 500 billion euro (500bn as baseline if cap retained)
- Proposed EU cap by Commission: 100 billion euro (as part of Market Integration and Supervision Package)
- Current EU limit before proposal: 6 billion euro
- Signatories named: Nasdaq, Boerse Stuttgart Group, Securitize, European Ethereum Institute, Axiology (among others)
A coalition of European financial and tokenization organisations has urged EU lawmakers to abandon or substantially raise a proposed 100 billion euro ceiling on the market value of financial instruments admitted to DLT infrastructure. In a draft letter dated Sept. 7 and directed to EU Council members and the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, the groups say the ceiling is too low and suggest a 500 billion euro minimum if any cap is kept.
Signatories include major market players and industry bodies such as Nasdaq, Boerse Stuttgart Group, Securitize, the European Ethereum Institute and Axiology. The letter argues that the proposed threshold is measured against the market value of admitted instruments rather than trading volumes, and that some European projects already operate at scales approaching 350 billion euro and expect further growth — a level the industry says would be curtailed by the 100 billion euro proposal.
The Commission has proposed lifting the existing 6 billion euro limit to as much as 100 billion euro within its Market Integration and Supervision Package, which contains revisions to the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Pilot Regime. That regime, which began in 2023, permits financial firms to trial blockchain-based trading and settlement for assets such as equities and bonds under certain regulatory exemptions.
Industry pressure on the DLT rules has been building for months. In April, a letter from 39 financial firms and trade groups — including Nasdaq and Boerse Stuttgart — asked policymakers for a faster expansion of the pilot’s limits to between 100 and 150 billion euro, broader asset eligibility and removal of time limits on licences. Earlier, in February, tokenization and market infrastructure firms including Securitize, 21X and Boerse Stuttgart warned that restrictive caps and temporary licences could prevent regulated on‑chain markets from scaling and risk moving liquidity to US platforms, where industry participants say larger‑scale tokenization faces no comparable volume caps.
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