New MTFs Based on DLT Technology as Operational Spaces for Decentralized Finance: A European Perspective

Speed, efficiency, and transparency have always guided market operators in the search for new methods to fundraising financial resources. Financial markets, to best respond to the needs of operators, have become the main ground for technological experimentation, leading to phenomena such as financial technology (FinTech) and its subsequent evolution into decentralized finance (DeFi), which allows users to carry out financial transactions directly without the intervention of financial intermediaries. This chapter examines the evolution of alternative forms of financial markets such as multilateral trading facilities (MTFs), describing their operational characteristics, their interaction with distributed ledger technology (DLT), and focusing on the Pilot Regime, an experimental project introduced by Regulation (EU) 2022/858 in the context of the “Digital Finance Strategy” promoted by the European Commission. The analysis highlights how new digital technologies based on DLT offer opportunities and efficiency gains for economic operators who will be able to take advantage of new fundraising platforms through DLT MTFs. It also allows us to reflect on the evolution of financial markets thanks to the development of MTFs and the overall regulatory path that has seen them as protagonists, highlighting the role of MTFs as exchange points between economic operators for the fundraising of financial resources.