The European Central Bank, European Commission and European Securities and Markets Authority are seeking nominations for an industry-led group to develop common standards for holding and settling tokenized securities, according to a release reported by Cointelegraph on Nov. 9, 2026.
The initiative addresses a potential barrier to adoption: fragmentation between distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms and their connections to existing financial systems. It is a standards-development effort, not evidence of increased usage or investor demand.
Applications close Nov. 27
EU industry associations, global institutions, private firms and fintech companies are eligible to apply to the European Tokenisation Standards Group (ETSG) by Nov. 27. Work is scheduled to begin in January 2027, with an initial set of standards targeted for early 2028.
The three EU institutions will participate as observers. The industry-led group will develop technical and market standards intended to help firms hold and settle tokenized securities across different DLT platforms while ensuring compatibility with existing financial systems.
Interoperability is the focus
The standards will support Appia, the Eurosystem initiative to develop a blueprint for Europe’s tokenized financial markets. The institutions warned that fragmentation could limit tokenization’s benefits. The group may also recommend ways for EU authorities to encourage firms to adopt its standards.
The effort follows the Eurosystem’s September 2026 launch of Pontes, a system that allows financial institutions to settle wholesale transactions in tokenized assets using central bank money.
The announcement sets out an infrastructure roadmap, but provides no figures for participating firms, transaction volumes or sustained usage. Whether the proposed standards lead to broader adoption therefore remains unestablished by this announcement.
Original source: Cointelegraph, published Nov. 9, 2026, at 20:27:06 UTC+8.
