The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launched a call for evidence on October 9, 2026, to evaluate the resilience of tokenized collateral. The regulator is examining whether digital twins of currently eligible assets can be effectively moved and liquidated by central counterparties (CCPs) during periods of market stress.
The review operates under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), which governs derivatives clearing. ESMA is specifically investigating if existing safeguards are sufficient for distributed ledger technology (DLT) interactions. The regulator clarified that this initiative does not involve expanding the list of acceptable collateral to include crypto-native tokens.
Stakeholders are invited to submit their feedback until January 15, 2027. ESMA intends to review these responses during the first quarter of 2027 to determine if further regulatory measures are required. Tokenization is scheduled to become a formal supervisory priority for the authority within 2027.
ESMA noted that Eurex Clearing’s DLT-based collateral mobilization service, which launched in June 2025, is currently the only relevant initiative in this sector. Additionally, the consultation coincides with the Eurosystem’s Pontes project, initiated in September 2026, which focuses on settling tokenized assets using central bank money.
