Circle urges European policymakers to accelerate updates to the EU's digital asset framework

On March 24, Circle urged European policymakers to speed up the update of the EU's digital asset framework, arguing that delays could slow institutional adoption of tokenized markets. In a feedback submitted on March 20 on the European Commission's proposed market integration plan, the stablecoin issuer said the plan was a "meaningful step" in the modernization of capital markets, but there are still gaps in scalability, regulation and settlement. Circle generally supports proposed changes to the EU's distributed ledger technology (DLT) pilot system, including expanding the scope of eligible assets and increasing transaction volume thresholds, but said current restrictions still restrict liquidity and institutional participation. He proposed introducing "adaptability" thresholds linked to market conditions rather than relying on regular legislative updates, and called for a clearer path from the pilot phase to permanent rule making. The company also urged regulators to speed up reforms beyond the broader legislative timetable, echoing concerns raised by tokenization companies last month that the delay could push activity to the United States, where on-chain market infrastructure develops faster.