DLT Pilot Regime

The DLT Pilot Regime is part of the Digital Finance Package that was introduced by the European Commission in 2020. The framework supports the potential of digital finance by fostering innovation and competition while mitigating risks. The Regime adopts a sandbox approach which allows for eligible firms to operate a DLT-based market infrastructure for trading and settling limited financial instruments. 

Under this regime only liquid bonds, shares, and fund units will be allowed on the DLT. The aggregate market capitalisation also may not exceed EUR 6 billion at the time of admission to trading or initial recording of a new DLT financial instrument. This regime separates itself from MiCA as it only provides a framework for the trading or settlement of transactions which qualify as financial instruments under MIFID II and therefore are true digital securities. 

Noteworthy is the application of a “sandbox” approach as the regime represents a testing environment which grants derogations from existing rules. The aim is to exempt DLT market infrastructures from requirements of the EU financial service legislation that could stifle innovation and the development of solutions for the trading and settlement of transactions in crypto-assets by means of DLT. The permission to operate DLT market infrastructure in accordance with the regime is temporary and limited to 6 years if strict requirements are met. The DLT permission will come with an “EU passport”, meaning that it shall be valid throughout the European Union. 

June 2025 European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a report on the Distributed Ledger Technology Pilot Regime (DLT Pilot Regime), providing an overview of the EU market for authorised DLT market infrastructures and recommendations on how to expand participation in the Regime.  

The report contains information about business models, types of DLT financial instruments offered, and technical or legal issues encountered by supervisors to date. It also analyses the types of exemptions requested by DLT market infrastructures and the conditions under which National Competent Authorities (NCA’s) have granted those exemptions (including the compensatory measures imposed to mitigate risks).   

April 2025 Autorité des marchés financiers / Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB)

France's Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and Italy's Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB) submitted proposals to the European Commission and the European co-legislators to "create a more suitable regulatory framework to allow for a real development in experimentations of distributed ledger technology (DLT) by European market infrastructures."

The AMF and CONSOB propose ways to make the Pilot Regime more efficient in three areas:

  • a more flexible regulatory framework to encourage experimentation
  • broaden the scope and ensure long-term visibility
  • developing interoperability and raising market awareness.

February 2025 Deutsche Bundesbank

Speech by Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank Burkhard Balz ' Unlocking the potential of cross-border payments: challenges and opportunities', given at the Central Bank Payments Conference.

January 2025 Autorité des marchés financiers

The AMF published 'The Regulation on a Pilot Regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology'.

May 2024 European Central Bank

Presentation by Piero Cipollone, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, on tokenisation of financial instrument and central bank money settlement.

April 2024 European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a letter to the European Commission, the Parliament, and the Council (ECOFIN) providing an interim update on the DLT Pilot Regime. 

The letter provides an update on the status of applications received by national competent authorities to date, as well as a list of challenges and opportunities identified in the first year of application.

October 2023 European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)
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