What happened
- Specific facts/numbers: A joint industry letter dated 21 April 2026 called for a DLT Pilot Regime “Quick-Fix,” while ESMA’s 25 June 2025 review said uptake had been limited, with only three authorised infrastructures and minimal live trading activity identified in its report.
- Institutions involved: The story centers on Nasdaq, Boerse Stuttgart Group and other tokenized-asset market participants lobbying EU policymakers; relevant public authorities include the European Commission and ESMA.
- Regulatory/technical context: The EU DLT Pilot Regime, in force since 23 March 2023, creates a framework for DLT-based trading and settlement infrastructures for financial instruments under MiFID II, but ESMA said current thresholds, interoperability frictions and lack of access to central bank money are constraining broader participation.
- What to watch next: Watch for the European Commission’s response to ESMA’s report and for any standalone “Quick-Fix” or broader legislative amendments to the DLT Pilot Regime; beyond that, no more specific next milestone was identified.
Why it matters
If EU lawmakers relax the regime’s caps and operational constraints, tokenized securities venues could become easier to scale across Europe, accelerating issuance, trading and settlement infrastructure build-outs.
HKMA Relevance
Indirect: Europe’s approach to scaling regulated tokenized securities infrastructure is relevant to Hong Kong policymakers and market operators evaluating how to expand tokenization within existing market-infrastructure rules.