Key facts
- The ECB, European Commission and ESMA will take part in the European Tokenisation Standards Group as observers.
- EU industry associations, global institutions, private firms and fintech companies are eligible to apply by November 27.
- The group will draft technical and market standards for holding and settling tokenized securities across distributed ledger platforms.
- The standards are meant to let distributed ledger platforms interoperate with existing financial systems.
- The institutions said fragmentation could limit the benefits of tokenization and that the group may recommend ways to encourage adoption.
- The standards will support Appia, the Eurosystem's blueprint for Europe's tokenized financial markets.
The European Central Bank, European Commission and European Securities and Markets Authority are seeking nominations for an industry-led group that will draft common standards for holding and settling tokenized securities, according to a release published on November 9.
EU industry associations, global institutions, private firms and fintech companies can apply to the European Tokenisation Standards Group by November 27. Work is set to begin in January 2027, and the three EU institutions will take part as observers.
The group will develop technical and market standards to help companies hold and settle tokenized securities across different distributed ledger technology platforms and to ensure those platforms can work with existing financial systems. Its mandate targets an initial set of standards by early 2028.
The standards will support Appia, the Eurosystem's initiative to develop a blueprint for Europe's tokenized financial markets. The institutions warned that fragmentation could limit the benefits of tokenization and said the group may recommend ways for EU authorities to encourage firms to adopt its standards.
In September, the Eurosystem launched Pontes, a system that allows financial institutions to settle wholesale transactions in tokenized assets in central bank money.