Stuttgart Stock Exchange launches Seturion: pan-European platform for the settlement of tokenized securities with savings up to 90%

Stuttgart, September 4, 2025 — Boerse Stuttgart has introduced Seturion, a pan-European infrastructure for the settlement of tokenized securities, designed to reduce costs and connect today’s fragmented national markets.

The announcement and technical details are reported in the official statements of the promoting group and in the specialized press coverage Boerse Stuttgart – Press Releases.

In this context, the promoting group indicates that the modular and interoperable architecture could lead to post-trade cost reductions of up to 90% in certain flows compared to traditional solutions, enabling settlement in fiat or on‑chain and faster cross‑border connections.

In brief (TL;DR)

• Objective: pan-European infrastructure for the settlement of tokenized assets, capable of connecting traditional systems and DLT networks.
• Who can access: European trading venues, banks, and brokers, even without a specific DLT license.
• How: support for public and permissioned networks, settlement in fiat or on-chain, modular design.
• When: launch announced on September 4, 2025; full operation remains subject to BaFin authorizations under the DLT Pilot Regime.

Impact on Regulation: What Seturion Introduces

Seturion aims to make the settlement of transactions on tokenized assets more efficient and predictable.

In practice, the platform connects legacy infrastructures and DLT solutions, facilitating the completion of operations both in official currency and directly on‑chain, in compliance with the legal finality requirements set by individual legal systems.

That said, the focus is on the certainty of settlement and alignment with national regulatory frameworks.

Operational Scope and How It Works

The architecture of Seturion is modular: independent components interact with traditional systems and DLT networks, thus containing integration costs.

The platform is designed to manage different tokenized asset classes – for example, digital bonds, tokenized funds, and, in the future, dematerialized equity on DLT – with the possibility of executing settlement in fiat through traditional banking channels or via authorized on‑chain resources. Indeed, the goal is to make the transition between distributed ledgers and legacy infrastructures as seamless as possible.

Technical Interoperability

• Public and permissioned networks: supports tokenized assets on various blockchains, although the exact list of enabled networks has not yet been disclosed.
• Flexible cash leg: provides for settlement in fiat or through suitable on‑chain instruments, based on agreements between the counterparties and current regulations.
• Connectors to existing infrastructures (custodian banks, CSD, trading venues) to minimize the need for process rework.

Access for banks, brokers, and trading venues

European trading venues, banks, and brokers can connect to the platform.

While traditional venues maintain existing connections, digital ones will be able to operate as clients of the infrastructure, allowing trading of tokenized securities even in the absence of specific DLT licenses, in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements. In this context, the access aims to reduce technical and geographical barriers.

Declared Operating Profits

• Cost reduction: in some streams, cost savings on post-trade processes could reach up to 90%, according to the promoting group.
• Settlement times: potentially shorter compared to legacy processes.
• Access: expanded for traditional and digital operators, with reduced cross-border barriers.
• Scalability: applicable across multiple tokenized asset classes.

Where it is already in use and test results

Seturion has already been adopted by BX Digital, the Swiss regulated platform focused on DLT technology.

Additionally, the Seturion Settlement Solution was used in the ECB blockchain trials in 2024 on wholesale settlement mechanisms, with the participation of major European banks.

According to the data communicated by the Boerse Stuttgart team and the public technical notes related to the trials, the tests conducted in 2024 showed faster finality times compared to purely legacy flows in pilot cases; the promoter reports savings estimates of up to 90% for specific post-trade paths.

Industry analysts note that such savings heavily depend on the point of integration (full on‑chain vs. fiat gateway), the topology of the connectors, and the scale of the volumes transacted, and they call for the publication of comparative metrics (average finality times, error rates per million messages, unit costs).

Methodological note: the quantitative details related to test volumes, success rates, and other performance parameters have not been made public.

It would be useful to have comparative measurements (such as average finality times, failure rates per million messages, unit costs per transaction) and an independent evaluation confirming the estimated savings of up to 90%.

Insights: official communications from Boerse Stuttgart • ECB context on DLT/wholesale settlement experiments: ECB dedicated page.

Governance, compliance, and operational models

• KYC/AML: the application of European and national standards is expected for the onboarding of institutional users and for counterparties’ due diligence.
• Custody: the operational models will be compatible with both institutional self-custody and third-party custody, in line with internal policies and mandate limits.
• Legal purpose: defined based on the settlement channel of the cash leg (e.g., central bank money vs. commercial) and the legal qualification of the platform according to national and EU regulations.
• Pricing: although a scheme has not yet been published, a transparent structure is expected with fees for both integrations and each transaction.

Status of Authorizations and Timeline

Boerse Stuttgart submitted the application to BaFin on September 4, 2025, under the DLT Pilot Regime.

For institutional information on BaFin: BaFin. The top executives – Lidia Kurt (CEO), Sven Wilke (Deputy CEO and CGO), Dirk Kruwinnus (CPO), Samuel Bisig (CTO), and Lucas Bruggeman (Chairman of the Board) – are currently awaiting regulatory confirmation.

• September 4, 2025: announcement of the initiative and availability for connections with selected operators.
• Next steps: awaiting the outcome of the BaFin application, potential extension of permissions under the DLT Pilot Regime, and alignment with MiCA regulations and those related to financial instruments.
• Roll-out: progressive expansion by jurisdiction and asset class as authorizations are released, with timelines currently being defined.

Comparison: where does Seturion stand compared to other initiatives

• SIX Digital Exchange (Switzerland, SDX): digital platform and CSD already operational for the issuance and settlement of digital bonds, with a primarily national focus but also oriented towards cross-border operations. SDX Website.
• Deutsche Börse D7 (Germany): platform for digital instruments and electronic post-trade management, integrated with legacy ecosystems. D7 Page.
• Euroclear D‑FMI: digital infrastructure for the issuance and settlement of tokenized instruments with the role of a CSD. Euroclear.

Seturion stands out for its pan-European approach, with particular emphasis on multi-chain interoperability and integration between distributed ledgers and traditional systems, aiming to reduce technological lock-in. However, much will depend on coordinated adoption in various markets.

What changes for different operators (with examples)

Banks and dealers

• Efficiency: reduction of manual steps and simplification of reconciliations in delivery-versus-payment flows.
• Hypothetical example: in a digital issuance of 100 million, a post-trade cost reduction of 20–30 bps can significantly impact the profitability of book-running.

Trading Venues

• Time‑to‑market: thanks to standard connectors, venues can list tokenized instruments without having to rework the entire technology stack.
• Hypothetical example: the transition from a T+2 settlement to near-real time on specific native digital securities, where regulations allow it.

Institutional Investors

• Access: ability to participate in new digital issuances with improved traceability of positions.
• Hypothetical example: a more dynamic collateral management thanks to more frequent settlement windows.

Key Terms Explained Simply

• DLT Pilot Regime: EU regulatory framework that allows, for a limited period and with specific controls, the testing of market infrastructures based on distributed ledgers.
• Settlement on‑chain: finalization of a transaction directly on a compatible blockchain, rather than through traditional payment systems.
• Legal finality: the moment when the transfer of securities and cash becomes final and legally enforceable.

Open Points and Regulatory Issues

• Cross-border harmonization: national differences persist regarding the definitions of security token, custody methods, and the responsibilities of intermediaries.
• Central bank currency cash: the use of on‑chain options for the cash leg requires further clarification on risks and the definition of finality.
• Independent metrics: the dissemination of verifiable data on performance, costs, and operational resilience is necessary to enable effective comparisons.

Why this move is relevant for Europe

The integration of the European capital market also involves infrastructures capable of reducing fragmentation and related costs.

An hub like Seturion, if validated by regulatory authorities and adopted on a large scale, could promote a more pragmatic connection between digital and traditional markets, paving the way for natively digital issuances with more predictable settlement processes. In other words, a potential step towards greater overall efficiency.

Conclusion

Seturion represents one of the most concrete attempts to create a pan-European infrastructure for the settlement of tokenized securities.

The final outcome will depend on obtaining the necessary authorizations, effective interoperability, and adoption by operators. If these elements materialize, Europe could aspire to a more integrated capital market, with streamlined and measurable post-trade processes.