What happened
- Specific facts/numbers: The coalition argues the European Commission’s proposed increase in the DLT Pilot Regime cap from €6 billion to €100 billion is still too low, and says that if any threshold remains it should be set at €1.5 trillion; the current regime has applied since 23 March 2023.
- Institutions involved: The lobbying group includes Nasdaq, Börse Stuttgart Group, Axiology and other European market infrastructure firms, while the letter is directed at the European Parliament and Council within the EU regulatory framework overseen in part by ESMA.
- Regulatory/technical context: The EU DLT Pilot Regime is a framework for trading and settlement of tokenized financial instruments under MiFID II, covering DLT multilateral trading facilities, DLT settlement systems and combined trading-and-settlement systems; participants argue lower thresholds for DLT venues than incumbent CSDs would disadvantage newer providers.
- What to watch next: Watch whether the European Parliament and Council amend the Commission proposal in the DLT Pilot review to remove the aggregate cap or lift it materially above €100 billion; no more specific next milestone was identified.
Why it matters
The outcome will affect whether regulated tokenized securities markets in Europe can scale beyond pilot use cases into institutional volumes.
HKMA Relevance
Indirect: Europe’s approach to scaling regulated tokenized securities infrastructure is relevant to Hong Kong policymakers and market operators considering how to balance sandbox limits with institutional adoption.