European financial regulators opened recruitment for a new group on standardizing the tokenization of financial markets.
The European Central Bank (ECB), the European Commission, and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launched the European Tokenisation Standards Group (ETSG), an industry group that will develop common technical standards to make tokenized financial infrastructures across the EU interoperable.
The ETSG’s main goal is to eliminate technological fragmentation in the European financial market. European regulators estimate that tokenization and DLT could substantially improve the efficiency of financial transactions and the integration of market infrastructures. However, the lack of harmonized standards creates a risk of isolated technology ecosystems, which limits the potential benefits of new solutions.
The ETSG will focus on 3 main areas of work:
- Developing common technical standards for interoperability between tokenized financial systems.
- Creating a mechanism to monitor market participants’ compliance with the agreed standards.
- Preparing recommendations for EU authorities on measures to encourage adoption of and compliance with these standards.
The group will work on the basis of industry consensus. Financial sector representatives will hold the leadership roles in the ETSG, while the ECB, the European Commission, and ESMA will have observer status. Under this approach, market participants themselves, not regulators, will determine the content of the standards.
The ETSG invites wholesale financial market participants to join, including European industry associations, private companies, international financial institutions, fintech companies, and technology providers working with tokenization and DLT solutions.
The ETSG stems from the Market Integration and Supervision Package (MISP), a set of legislative proposals the European Commission presented in December 2025 to integrate EU financial markets. Among other things, the package provides for common technical standards and interoperability of DLT infrastructures both within the DLT Pilot Regime and beyond it. The ETSG is expected to lay the industry groundwork for the technical integration of tokenized financial infrastructures and for implementing the MISP initiatives.
Applications to join the ETSG are open until November 27, 2026.
Earlier, the Eurosystem presented a long-term strategy for building a tokenized financial market ecosystem in Europe. The ECB endorsed the strategy and approved a 2-stage plan to integrate settlement of digital assets through DLT solutions. In parallel, the ECB began exploring options for moving central bank money on-chain, and the Eurosystem launched Pontes, a blockchain platform for settling tokenized asset transactions in central bank money (CeBM).
