European financial firms and technology groups are urging lawmakers to speed up changes to rules for distributed ledger technology, warning the region risks falling behind the United States in digital finance.
In a joint letter, 39 signatories, including Boerse Stuttgart Group, Nasdaq and fintech associations across several EU countries, asked the European Commission and Parliament to separate the pilot regime for digital ledger technology (DLT) from a wider legislative package under review.
They argue that handling the rules on their own would allow for faster updates, Bloomberg reports. The DLT pilot, in place since 2023, lets companies test how tokenized versions of assets like stocks and bonds can trade and settle using blockchains.
It is part of a wider set of 18 financial laws now moving through the EU legislative process, a path industry groups say could take years.
The coalition is pushing for practical changes, including expanding the types of assets allowed, raising transaction limits to 150 billion euros ($176 billion) and removing expiration dates on licenses. These changes, they argue, would give companies room to build real markets rather than small experiments.
The letter comes as the US is crafting laws to regulate the space, including the Genius Act, to help bring crypto further into mainstream finance.
The European Commission has signaled that it prefers to adopt the full legislative package together as part of its wider plan to mobilize savings for investment.
