EU faces warning: Blockchain lead threatened by US

Eight digital asset firms warn the EU risks losing its blockchain lead to the U.S. due to restrictive tokenization rules. They urge urgent regulatory changes to stay competitive.

Eight digital asset firms, including Securitize, 21X, and Seturion, have sent a letter to EU policymakers, warning that Europe risks losing its early lead in blockchain and tokenization to the United States. The firms argue that the EU’s current regulatory framework, especially the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Pilot Regime, imposes restrictive limits on transaction volumes and asset types. They note that these constraints could delay effective implementation until at least 2030. Meanwhile, the U.S. is advancing rapidly, planning fully digital settlement markets by 2026 and already allowing industrial-scale tokenization. The companies urge the EU to update its rules and remove barriers to maintain competitiveness and prevent global liquidity from shifting to U.S. markets.