The Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) published a reminder for market parties to comply with their legal obligations under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) as it has noticed a lack of awareness among parties that create and offer crypto-assets to the public.
The AFM states that new tokens and meme coins are increasingly being launched through online platforms where the technical threshold is low. Because of this, it is possible for virtually anyone to create a new crypto-asset in a short period of time and bring it to the attention of a large audience. In such cases, the AFM refers to the following examples of rules that apply when offering crypto-assets to the public:
- private individuals are not allowed to offer crypto-assets; only legal entities may offer these to the public;
- generally, a white paper must be drawn up and published. A notification of the crypto-asset white paper must be made to the AFM. A white paper includes important information in regard to the project, the crypto-asset, the offering, rights and risks associated with the crypto-asset; and
- advertisements and expressions that are disseminated through a website or (social) media should provide the correct information, and must be clear and non-misleading. They should also be consistent with the information provided in the white paper. Advertisements must be recognizable as such.
- The AFM reminds market parties that if it finds that such rules are breached, it can impose various enforcement measures.
The press release is available here.