EU authorities seek members for tokenisation standards group
Industry-led group will set common standards so blockchain-based markets can connect, starting January 2027
The European Central Bank (ECB), the European Commission and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) are inviting financial firms to join a new group that will agree common standards so tokenised markets built on different blockchains can work together.
The European Tokenisation Standards Group (ETSG) will be chaired by industry participants, with the three authorities acting as observers. Applications close on Friday 27 November, and the group is expected to start work in January 2027.
Its objective is end-to-end interoperability: allowing financial instruments issued on distributed ledger technology (DLT) to be settled and held across different DLT infrastructures, and between DLT and existing market infrastructure. The group will catalogue existing standards, identify gaps, agree common market standards and monitor how widely they are adopted. It may also recommend measures EU authorities could take to encourage compliance.
The mandate sets a target of initial standards by early 2028, focused on the Eurosystem’s Appia roadmap for a European tokenised financial ecosystem.
The authorities said European firms adopting tokenisation risk recreating the fragmentation and silos of existing markets. The group’s mandate cites a July 2026 Eurogroup statement warning that “without shared standards, the multiplication of DLT networks risks recreating and compounding the fragmentation” the EU has been trying to overcome.
In December 2025, the Commission proposed amendments to the DLT Pilot Regime as part of its Market Integration and Supervision Package. These would require post-trade firms to work towards interoperability between DLT market infrastructures and create an industry group to set standards. The ETSG allows that work to begin before the amendments are adopted.
Respondents to the ECB’s April 2026 consultation on Appia said the risk of fragmentation in tokenised markets was significant and needed urgent action, according to the call for nominations.
Membership is open to EU associations, private firms, global institutions, fintechs and technology providers working on tokenisation. Nominees must have expertise in standardisation or applying standards in financial services, represent an entity with a European presence and be able to commit their organisation to the group’s decisions. No single type of stakeholder should dominate.
The group will aim to reach decisions by consensus, as defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The ECB will publish its documents by default, and the group will report on its progress publicly at least once a year.