EU Faces Pressure to Raise Tokenization Caps Amid Transatlantic Competition

Nasdaq and Boerse Stuttgart have urged EU lawmakers to raise the caps on tokenized securities in the bloc's DLT Pilot Regime. The current limit of €6 billion is too low, according to the exchange operators, who argue that Europe cannot compete with the US for institutional-scale digital asset issuance.

The DLT Pilot Regime was launched in 2023 as a regulatory sandbox where exchanges and settlement systems could experiment with distributed ledger technology for trading traditional securities in tokenized form. However, the regime's caps are restricting participation to smaller securities and bonds under MiFID II rules.

Nasdaq and Boerse Stuttgart have formally asked EU lawmakers to either scrap or dramatically increase the caps on tokenized securities. They propose raising the ceiling to between €150 billion and €1.5 trillion, or eliminating them entirely. This would allow Europe to compete with the US, where tokenization at scales roughly 100 times larger than what Europe's current framework permits is already allowed.

The exchange operators are backing their lobbying with operational commitments, including a partnership in March 2026 between Nasdaq and Boerse Stuttgart's Seturion platform. This move aims to broaden the range of tokenized products available to European investors and create more flexible settlement pathways.