Nasdaq seeks €1.5T EU tokenisation cap

• Nasdaq, Börse Stuttgart and industry groups have urged the EU to remove its proposed tokenisation cap.
• The coalition has called for a ceiling of at least €1.5 trillion if the cap remains.
• The EU has proposed raising the current limit from €6 billion to €100 billion.

Nasdaq, Börse Stuttgart and European financial groups have urged EU lawmakers to remove the proposed €100 billion cap on tokenised securities.

The coalition has instead called for a limit of at least €1.5 trillion, arguing the proposed ceiling could constrain the growth of blockchain-based markets.

The groups have argued that the EU should remove the cap entirely or allow it to increase as tokenisation markets expand.

The European Commission has proposed raising the current €6 billion ceiling under its distributed ledger technology pilot regime to €100 billion.

The coalition has also opposed giving central securities depositories higher capacity limits than other blockchain market operators, arguing this could disadvantage newer providers.

The proposed limits apply to the market value of securities admitted to platforms rather than their trading volume, making the cap relevant even when relatively little is traded.

The groups have pointed to European projects already reaching €350 billion and have urged lawmakers to avoid a fixed ceiling that could restrict future tokenisation growth.