Nasdaq and Boerse Stuttgart urge EU to raise tokenization cap

Major financial institutions and crypto industry groups, including Nasdaq and Boerse Stuttgart, have issued a joint letter to European Union legislators requesting a significant overhaul of tokenized securities regulations. The coalition is urging the EU to either abolish the market value cap within the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Pilot Regime or increase it from the proposed 100 billion euro limit to at least 1.5 trillion euros.

The group argues that the current proposal is insufficient, noting that some existing European tokenization projects already reach a market value of 350 billion euros, which is more than triple the proposed limit. They also expressed concerns regarding potential discriminatory treatment, suggesting that the framework might grant traditional Central Securities Depositories (CSDs) higher capacity limits than emerging blockchain-based platforms, thereby stifling innovation.

Industry representatives warned that overly restrictive regulations could cause Europe to lose its competitive edge to the United States, where settlement platforms can tokenize assets without such quantitative constraints. The coalition advocates for a flexible, adjustable cap that evolves alongside market growth to ensure Europe remains a central hub for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.