The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) has today published new data showing rapid continued growth in adoption of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)-based capital markets solutions, especially stablecoin issuance, repo transactions and tokenisation of investment funds.
However, on DLT fixed income issuance, while global DLT-based fixed income issuance has remained robust, European DLT bond issuance has declined following the end of the ECB trials and experiments. Both the success of these ECB trials and experiments and the subsequent decline emphasise the importance of DLT-linked central bank money and the need for swift implementation of the interoperability solution.
James Kemp, Managing Director of Technology and Operations at AFME, said: “The rapid growth of DLT adoption in capital markets over the past six months—particularly driven by US dollar stablecoins and US Treasury funds—highlights the urgent need for Europe to be ambitious in developing DLT-based markets, including through policies and regulations that support scalable adoption.”
Other key findings from the report include:
Global DLT Fixed Income Issuance:
- Total issuance reached €1.69bn in 2025, a 44% annualised decline from €3.25bn in 2024, primarily due to the conclusion of ECB trials in November 2024.
- Excluding central bank trials, issuance remained stable at €1.4bn in the first three quarters of 2025, similar to 2024 full-year levels.
- Most issuance (€1.46bn) occurred on public-permissioned blockchains, with SDX and HSBC Orion contributing the largest share.
- Only one DLT green bond with undisclosed amount was issued in 2025, compared to €483mn in 2024.
Stablecoins:
- The global stablecoin market reached a record $286bn in market capitalisation as of September 2025, up 47% from $194bn at the end of 2024.
- USD-backed stablecoins dominate, accounting for 99.5% of the market, while European stablecoins remain minimal at $463mn (<0.2%).
- Eight global banks have launched stablecoins, and a consortium of nine European banks recently announced plans to issue a MiCAR-compliant euro-denominated stablecoin. Société Générale currently offers a euro stablecoin valued at approximately €48.9mn.
DLT-Based Repo Transactions:
- While consolidated data remains limited, platforms such as Broadridge DLR process over $300bn per day on average, with JP Morgan’s Kinexys platform handling around $2bn per day.
Tokenised Funds:
- Assets under management in tokenised funds reached $8.4bn as of September 2025, a 298% increase from December 2024, driven largely by the 450% growth of the BlackRock USD Digital Liquidity Money Market fund.
- $5.3bn of tokenised fund allocations were invested in US government securities, with the remainder allocated to alternative assets, non-US government bonds, and equities.
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