Nomination for the Working Group on Tokenized Securities Standards by the Three Major Institutions of the European Union

According to Cointelegraph, the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the European Securities and Markets Authority are jointly soliciting nominations for a working group led by the industry, which will establish unified standards for the holding and settlement of tokenized securities.

Eligible applicants include EU industry associations, global institutions, private enterprises, and fintech companies, which can apply to join the European Tokenized Standards Group (ETSG) by November 27. The relevant work will commence in January 2027, with the aforementioned three EU institutions participating as observers.

The working group will develop technical and market standards to assist businesses in holding and settling tokenized securities across different Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platforms, ensuring that these platforms can be compatible with existing financial systems.

According to its scope of responsibilities, the working group plans to produce the first set of standards by early 2028. These standards will support Appia, which is the blueprint for the European tokenized financial market developed by the euro system.

The three institutions warned that market fragmentation could limit the benefits brought by tokenization, and the working group may propose recommendations on how EU regulators can encourage businesses to adopt its standards. In September of this year, the euro system launched the Pontes system, allowing financial institutions to settle wholesale transactions of tokenized assets in central bank money.