France establishes Europe's first 'tokenized securities exchange'… heralding IPO innovation

Lightning Stock Exchange, headquartered in Paris, France, has formalized the establishment of Europe's first fully tokenized stock exchange.

On the 16th (local time), according to Nikkei Asia and CoinDesk, the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) issued Lightning Stock Exchange a DLT trading and settlement (TSS, Trading and Settlement System) license. This is an authorization under the EU's distributed ledger technology (DLT) pilot regime and is an official license permitting the trading and settlement of blockchain-based financial products.

Lightning said, "This approval authorizes the operation of the first stock-dedicated tokenization exchange in Europe," and added, "This signifies a fundamental change in the structure of financial markets." It continued, "Through tokenization, the IPO process can be simplified and costs can be significantly reduced," explaining, "The first tokenized IPO is scheduled for early 2026, and thereafter we plan to tokenize more than 10 public listings by 2027."

Experts view Rice's case as a turning point for the spread of tokenized securities in Europe. Earlier this year, major cryptocurrency exchanges such as Gemini and Kraken launched tokenized securities products for European customers, and analysts say that traditional finance is also entering the tokenization market in earnest.