EU’s regulated blockchain securities market adds first bank participant

Amina, a Swiss-regulated crypto bank, has joined a blockchain-based settlement platform for tokenized securities operating under the European Union’s DLT pilot regime, marking another step toward integrating digital asset infrastructure with traditional capital markets.

The Zug, Switzerland-based company announced Monday that it has become a listing sponsor on the EU-regulated platform 21X, making Amina the venue’s first fully regulated bank participant.

Amina said the move will allow it to support companies issuing tokenized securities on 21X through its partnership with Tokeny, a Luxembourg-based company that provides technology for creating and managing tokenized financial assets.

The collaboration aims to address a key barrier to institutional adoption of tokenized assets by connecting regulated banks with the issuance and trading of tokenized securities.

21X received an infrastructure permit under the EU’s DLT pilot regime in December 2024, allowing it to run a regulated market for blockchain-based securities in a regulatory test environment.

“A lack of interoperability of tokenized asset platforms” was cited by Baker McKenzie’s European Financial Services practice in June as one of the main obstacles to the adoption of tokenization among financial institutions. “Scale will only be achieved when numerous market players are transacting with each other on common or interconnected platforms,” Zurich partner Yves Mauchle wrote on the firm’s blog.

Introduced in 2023, the DLT framework allows market operators to experiment with blockchain-based trading and settlement of financial instruments within a regulatory sandbox. The program is intended to help regulators evaluate how the technology could fit into existing market infrastructure.

Despite early uptake, the regime has faced scrutiny from industry participants, who warn that its current limits could prevent European onchain markets from scaling and competing with other jurisdictions. It remains unclear whether participation from regulated banks such as Amina will help accelerate adoption.

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Strong growth of tokenized real-world assets

The development comes as financial institutions increasingly invest in blockchain infrastructure for tokenized assets. In the United States, institutions including BNY, Nasdaq and S&P Global recently backed the expansion of the Canton Network, while Europe is testing regulated blockchain trading venues such as 21X under the EU’s DLT pilot regime.

In February, eight EU-regulated digital asset companies urged policymakers to accelerate digital asset legislation, warning that the bloc risks falling behind the United States and other jurisdictions in developing tokenized financial markets.

To be sure, positive developments are taking place. In September, crypto exchange Kraken launched tokenized securities trading for European users through its xStocks platform, which offers blockchain-based versions of US-listed equities. 

Two months later, tokenization platform Ondo received regulatory approval in Liechtenstein to offer tokenized equities trading to European investors.

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