EU tokenisation standards group opens; Treasuries at $12.10B

The ECB, the European Commission and ESMA have asked the wholesale financial industry to help write tokenisation standards for the EU. The call went out on 9 November 2026. This article explains what the group is, when it starts, and how it relates to the on-chain assets we count.

What is the European Tokenisation Standards Group?

The European Tokenisation Standards Group (ETSG) is a new industry body. The group will bring together industry stakeholders to develop common standards for an interconnected tokenised financial ecosystem. It aims to establish a framework for monitoring compliance with the agreed standards and may formulate recommendations for EU authorities on how to incentivise compliance.

The ECB announcement was published on 9 November 2026. It was issued jointly with the Commission and ESMA.

Who chairs the group and who can join?

Industry leads. The ETSG will be chaired by participants from the industry, with the ECB, the Commission and ESMA acting as observers.

Membership is wide. Participation is open to EU associations, private entities, global institutions, fintech companies and technical providers working on tokenisation or DLT-based financial services.

When do applications close and when will standards arrive?

The ECB page states: "The deadline for submitting applications is 27 November 2026." Per the ESMA call as reported by Cryptopolitan, "the selected members start work in January 2027".

The standards themselves will take longer. BigGo Finance reports that the first draft rules "will not emerge until early 2028." That matches the timeline in Appia, the ECB's roadmap for tokenized markets published in March 2026, per Cryptopolitan. For now, the call is a recruitment notice. It does not change any rule.

How does this connect to what is already on-chain?

The ETSG targets wholesale tokenised finance in the EU. Our counts measure something different. They track funds, stablecoins and gold tokens on public blockchains, and they are not split by jurisdiction. They show how much traditional-finance value already sits on-chain before any common EU standard exists.

In tokenized Treasuries, the largest fund by market cap is Ondo's USDY. It holds $2.39 billion on-chain, 19.8% of the total as of November 10, 2026. By blockchain, BNB Chain leads with $4.38 billion, followed by Ethereum at $3.52 billion. See also BNB Chain now holds more tokenized Treasuries than Ethereum.

Why would common standards matter for these assets?

The fund and token issuers in our lists run on different blockchains. Issuers such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and J.P. Morgan Asset Management each pick their own chains. BlackRock's BUIDL is spread across 9 blockchains in our count, and USDY across 11.

Common standards for custody and settlement are meant to make such platforms work together. BigGo Finance describes the core task as building consensus on technical details for tokenised securities across different DLT platforms. Our counts cannot measure interoperability. They can show how many dollars sit on each chain today.

We count only funds whose token addresses the issuer publishes or confirms in writing. We never count the same dollars twice. Our method is explained in How we count traditional finance moving on-chain. For another recent step on market infrastructure, see DTCC's tokenization service goes live.

What to watch

• The nomination deadline of 27 November 2026.
• The announcement of group members and chairs ahead of the January 2027 start.
• Whether the first draft standards arrive in early 2028, as reported.
• Our 6-hourly updates to the Treasury, stablecoin and gold counts.