#12 — Capital Markets Weekly Review

TL;DR: The SEC approved Nasdaq’s tokenized securities pilot—same order book, same prices as traditional stocks. Brussels proposed EU Inc., a 48-hour digital company framework to replace 27 national registration systems. The Eurosystem published its Appia roadmap for tokenized finance, with a full blueprint due 2028. NSCC is moving to 24×5 operations by mid-2026, and the EU’s capital markets reform package—over 1,000 pages—is advancing toward a summer 2026 deadline.

SEC Approves Nasdaq Tokenized Securities Pilot

The SEC approved Nasdaq’s rule changes after a seven-month review. Tokenized securities can now trade alongside traditional stocks on the same order book at identical prices.

Not a separate market. The same market.

According to Cointelegraph, participation is limited to eligible broker-dealers and DTC-approved firms. Stocks come from high-volume Russell 1000 constituents. Nasdaq is coordinating with the Depository Trust Company and working with Kraken and Boerse Stuttgart Group to integrate tokenized securities into mainstream financial markets.

The approval matters because it treats tokenized assets as infrastructure, not experiment.

Sources

European Commission Proposes EU Inc. Framework

On 19 March, the European Commission proposed EU Inc., an optional digital corporate framework. Instead of navigating 27 national legal systems, entrepreneurs could register and operate companies across the EU under a single harmonized ruleset.

According to European Sting, the proposal aims to reduce business setup time to 48 hours for under €100, eliminate minimum capital requirements, and enable fully digital operations. The framework would simplify registration, taxation, insolvency, and investment procedures.

The Commission is calling for agreement by the end of 2026. Whether member states actually deliver on that timeline is another question entirely.

Sources

Eurosystem Publishes Appia Roadmap for Tokenized Finance

The Eurosystem published its roadmap for Appia, a strategic initiative to build a tokenized financial ecosystem in Europe using distributed ledger technology.

According to the ECB, the initiative follows exploratory work in 2024 involving 64 participants conducting over 50 trials. The Eurosystem plans to publish a comprehensive blueprint by 2028 that establishes European governance and common standards for DLT networks. Central bank money remains the settlement anchor.

Complementing Appia, the Pontes service will provide an interim bridge. DLT-based transactions can settle in central bank money through TARGET Services starting Q3 2026.

Think of Appia as the long-term architecture and Pontes as the temporary connector. Both are necessary.

Sources

NSCC Plans 24×5 Operations by Mid-2026

According to Broadridge, NSCC is moving to 24×5 operations by mid-2026.

DTCC projects the overnight window could capture 1-10% of total volume by 2028. Existing Alternative Trading Systems already show consistent after-hours activity, which means the demand is real.

The operational challenges are significant. Firms will need real-time surveillance systems, recalibrated risk models, new trade-date handling logic, and continuous position management. According to Broadridge, extended hours will compress margins for error and reshape compliance, clearing, and regulatory frameworks.

The real question is whether firms can build the infrastructure fast enough. Mid-2026 is close.

Sources

EU Capital Markets Reform Package Advances

The European Commission’s Market Integration and Supervision Package, published 4 December 2025, comprises over 1,000 pages of amendments to existing legislation including EMIR, MiFIR, and MiCA.

According to SEC Newgate, the package represents the most substantial EU capital markets reform since MiFID II. Key contentious issues center on expanding ESMA’s direct supervisory powers over cross-border infrastructure and crypto-asset service providers, transferring crypto authorization from national authorities to ESMA, and establishing common ESG standards.

Six major EU economies publicly support the package’s core goals. The target deadline is summer 2026, though parliamentary negotiations could extend implementation into 2027–2029.

Which is why the real work happens in the next six months, not the next six years.

Sources

Shareholder Rights Directive Revision Underway

The European Commission is revising the Shareholder Rights Directive to improve shareholder rights exercise and strengthen European capital markets.

According to the Association of German Banks, Germany’s private banks advocate for amendments mandating standardized, machine-readable data formats from companies and streamlined EU requirements to enable fully automated processes across intermediaries.

Key proposals: require companies to transmit corporate event information in interoperable formats like ISO standards, simplify shareholder identification and general meeting rules, and potentially extend these requirements to non-listed companies. The banks emphasize that companies should bear the costs of intermediary services rather than passing them to investors.

The argument is straightforward. If companies want access to capital markets, they should provide the data infrastructure that makes those markets work.

Sources

IG Group Considers New York Listing

According to Finextra, online trading platform IG Group is considering moving its listing from London to New York to boost its presence in the fast-growing U.S. predictions market. The company is evaluating the potential switch as part of its U.S. expansion strategy.

Sources

Co-authored by Claude. Curated and edited by Konstantin Werhahn.