France FinTech Pushes EU to Scrap DLT Trading Cap

Alejandro Martínez · 2026-09-11

France FinTech just teamed up with a group of European finance heavyweights and tokenization advocates. They're calling on EU lawmakers to supercharge the DLT Pilot Regime. Why? Because the current proposal, they say, doesn't go nearly far enough. ### What's the DLT Pilot Regime Anyway? Think of it as a sandbox for blockchain-based financial market infrastructure. It lets firms experiment with tokenized securities under a special EU framework. But there's a catch: a hard cap on how much trading volume these platforms can handle. Right now, that cap sits at around $6.5 billion (€6 billion). The European Commission wants to raise it to roughly $108 billion (€100 billion). Sounds huge, right? Not so fast, says France FinTech and its allies. They argue even $108 billion is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall size of Europe's capital markets. And with tokenization taking off globally, Europe risks falling behind. ### The Big Ask: Kill the Cap Entirely In a joint letter, the coalition lays out three key demands: - **Remove the global cap altogether** – or at least set it high enough that European DLT infrastructure can actually scale. - **Create a flexible adjustment mechanism** – so the Commission can raise or lower thresholds as the market evolves, without needing new legislation every time. - **Ensure a level playing field** – no special thresholds that favor one type of infrastructure over another. "We need a framework that can sustainably support tokenized financial markets and keep Europe competitive on a global scale," the letter states. ### Why This Matters for the US If you're in the US payments or fintech space, you might wonder why you should care about a European regulatory squabble. Here's the thing: tokenization is borderless. If Europe builds a robust, scalable DLT market, it could become a magnet for global capital and innovation. On the flip side, if Europe hobbles its own sandbox, the US could gain an edge—but also face a fragmented landscape where different regions play by different rules. Remember Wero, the European Payments Initiative's answer to PayPal and Venmo? It's another sign that Europe is serious about building homegrown digital finance infrastructure. The DLT Pilot Regime revision is part of that same push. ### What Happens Next? The proposal is currently working its way through the EU's co-legislative process under the Market Integration and Supervision Package (MISP). France FinTech and its partners are turning up the heat, hoping to influence the final text. The goal: a regulatory framework that doesn't just tick boxes but actually enables European DLT platforms to compete with the likes of the US and Asia. > "The objective is to have a European framework capable of sustainably supporting the development of tokenized financial markets and their global competitiveness." That's a direct quote from the coalition's letter. And it's hard to argue with the ambition. The question is whether EU lawmakers will listen. ### The Bottom Line Europe's tokenization ambitions are big. But without the right rules, they could stall before they even get off the ground. France FinTech and its allies are betting that a higher—or no—cap will unleash a wave of innovation. For anyone watching the future of finance, this is a story worth following. After all, the next big thing in payments might not come from Silicon Valley. It might come from a blockchain in Frankfurt or Paris.