A coalition of financial and crypto industry groups, including Nasdaq and Boerse Stuttgart, has formally urged EU lawmakers to scrap or dramatically raise tokenization caps under the DLT Pilot Regime. While the European Commission proposed raising the current €6 billion ceiling to €100 billion, the coalition argues this remains inadequate, demanding a limit of at least €1.5 trillion to compete with the United States and support institutional-scale digital asset issuance.
DLT Pilot Regime tokenization caps
- ▪The European Commission proposed raising the DLT Pilot Regime's tokenization ceiling to €100 billion as part of a December 2025 revision to expand the framework following modest participation.
- ▪The European Union's DLT Pilot Regime, launched in 2023, currently caps the aggregate market value of all tokenized securities at €6 billion, with an exit threshold of €9 billion.
Industry coalition lobbying effort
- ▪The industry coalition argued that the DLT Pilot Regime thresholds restrict the market value of admitted securities rather than trading volume, meaning a platform's capacity is constrained by the value of supported instruments even with low trading activity.
- ▪A coalition of financial and crypto industry groups formally asked European Union lawmakers in September 2026 to either eliminate the tokenization caps entirely or raise them to between €150 billion and €1.5 trillion.
- ▪The industry coalition stated in its September 2026 letter that some existing European tokenization projects already reach €350 billion, making the proposed €100 billion cap insufficient.
- ▪The industry coalition lobbying European Union lawmakers includes Nasdaq, Boerse Stuttgart Group, French digital asset association Adan, the Crypto Council for Innovation, and the European Ethereum Institute.
US-Europe tokenization competition
- ▪The industry coalition argued that the United States market allows tokenization at scales roughly 100 times larger than Europe's current framework, with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) utilizing regulatory no-action letters to enable tokenized settlements.
- ▪The industry coalition warned that Europe cannot compete with the United States for institutional-scale digital asset issuance if the European Union maintains its proposed €100 billion tokenization ceiling.
Nasdaq-Boerse Stuttgart partnership
- ▪The partnership between Nasdaq and Boerse Stuttgart's Seturion platform provides Nasdaq with a foothold in the European decentralized ledger technology market while bringing Nasdaq's global distribution network to Boerse Stuttgart.
- ▪Nasdaq formed a partnership with Boerse Stuttgart's Seturion platform in March 2026 to broaden the range of tokenized products available to European investors and establish flexible settlement pathways.
Central securities depository capacity limits
- ▪The industry coalition requested that if European Union lawmakers retain a cap, the European Commission should be allowed to raise it dynamically as markets grow without a predetermined maximum limit.
- ▪The industry coalition opposed giving traditional central securities depositories higher capacity limits than newer blockchain market operators, arguing it would disadvantage new providers.
Debatable claims
- ▪The EU should give blockchain startups and traditional depositories equal tokenization limits
- ▪The EU should eliminate the market value cap on tokenized securities
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