ESMA is considering to amend the RTS formats for Distributed ledger technology DLT the ‘Call for evidence’ on stakeholders to send their input on the use of DLT for trading and settlement and on the need for amending the regulatory technical standards on regulatory reporting and transparency requirements.
Crypto assets are one of the major applications of blockchain technology in finance. However, provisions in existing EU legislation may inhibit the use of DLT. The DLT Pilot aims at creating an EU framework that enables markets in crypto assets, which qualify as financial instruments (i.e., tokenised financial assets) and the wider use of DLT in financial services
This call for evidence aims at seeking input from stakeholders as to the need for amending the RTS on pre- and post-trade transparency requirements, i.e.
- RTS 1 (equity transparency),
- RTS 2 (non-equity transparency),
- RTS 3 (double volume cap and provision of data)
- RTS on data reporting requirements, i.e. RTS 22 (transaction reporting),
- RTS 23 (reference data),
- RTS 24 (order record keeping) and RTS 25 (clock synchronisation).
Changes to MiFIR could be considered for the long term, especially in the context of the MiFIR review, but would not solve the issue for the first one/two years of application of the DLT Pilot or even longer. ESMA is currently assessing solutions to address this data gap before the DLT Pilot becomes fully applicable
