Börse Stuttgart Secures DLT License for Seturion Settlement Platform

Germany's financial regulator, BaFin, has granted Börse Stuttgart Group a license to operate a distributed ledger technology (DLT) trading and settlement system through its Seturion platform.

The approval allows Seturion to provide regulated settlement infrastructure for tokenized financial instruments, connecting banks, brokers and trading venues across European markets. Börse Stuttgart said it is the first European exchange group to receive a DLT Trading and Settlement System (TSS) license under the EU's DLT Pilot Regime.

The license establishes the regulatory basis for the platform's operations, although a production launch date has not been announced.

Seturion Targets Cross-Border Securities Settlement

Seturion is designed to connect trading venues and financial institutions through a shared settlement platform, reducing the need for separate infrastructure across markets. It supports public and private blockchains and is designed to accommodate settlement using on-chain money, including eligible stablecoins, or central bank money.

Börse Stuttgart says the platform could reduce settlement costs by up to 90%. This remains a company estimate, with the commercial impact depending on adoption and transaction volumes.

The approval builds on the group's earlier work on blockchain-based securities settlement. In 2024, Unlock Blockchain reported on Börse Stuttgart's participation in the ECB's DLT settlement trials, which involved six German banks and five tokenized securities. Those tests were simulations rather than live transactions.

Seturion has also been developing partnerships to connect its infrastructure to existing financial markets. Nasdaq announced plans to connect its European trading venues to the platform, while flatexDEGIRO and Société Générale are among the institutions associated with its planned tokenized structured-products offering.

EU Transaction Limits Could Shape Expansion

The license comes as policymakers debate changes to the EU's DLT Pilot Regime, which allows eligible market infrastructures to test DLT-based trading and settlement under specific conditions.

The regime's current transaction-value limits constrain the potential scale of participating platforms. According to Ledger Insights, the European Commission has proposed raising the relevant ceiling to €100 billion, while EU finance ministers have supported a negotiating position of €300 billion.

These are competing positions in the legislative process, not an enacted increase to the existing limit.

For Seturion, the license provides a regulatory foundation, but its longer-term reach will depend on market adoption, live transaction volumes and the rules ultimately governing the scale of DLT-based securities infrastructure in Europe.

The development reflects a broader shift from blockchain settlement trials toward regulated infrastructure designed to connect tokenized financial instruments with established capital markets.