The European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) are inviting wholesale financial industry stakeholders to join the European Tokenisation Standards Group (ETSG). The group will develop common standards for an interconnected tokenised financial ecosystem, addressing fragmentation that could prevent participants from realising the benefits of distributed ledger technology (DLT).
Industry participants will chair the group and shape its work through contributions and consensus, while the three authorities will act as observers. Alongside developing standards, the ETSG aims to establish a framework for monitoring compliance and may recommend ways for EU authorities to incentivise adherence. Participation is open to industry stakeholders and public bodies, with applications due by Nov. 27, 2026.
The initiative follows the Commission's December 2025 market integration and supervision package, which proposed removing regulatory barriers to DLT in financial services. One proposed measure would require entities active in the post-trading value chain to work toward interoperability between DLT market infrastructures and establish supporting technical standards.