On Tuesday, 18 October 2022, the European Commission (“the Commission”) published a communication setting out an EU Action Plan for Digitalising the Energy System. Amongst initiatives focussed on improving the functioning of the EU’s energy markets, such as the creation of a common European energy data space, improving strategic European coordination for energy markets, promoting … Continue Reading
On 11 October 2022, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a consultative report which sets out a number of proposed recommendations to promote the consistency and comprehensiveness of regulatory, supervisory and oversight approaches to crypto-asset activities and markets intended to strengthen international cooperation, coordination and information sharing. The recommendations apply to any type of crypto-asset … Continue Reading
On 11 July 2022, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a statement on international regulation and supervision of crypto-asset activities. Key points from the statement include: Crypto-assets and markets must be subject to effective regulation and oversight commensurate to the risks they pose, both at domestic and international level. Crypto-asset service providers must at all … Continue Reading
On 7 July 2022, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued its Crypto-Asset Roadmap for 2022-2023. The Roadmap sets out IOSCO’s policy agenda and work program for the crypto-asset sector over the next 12 to 24 months. Earlier this year IOSCO established a board-level fintech taskforce (FTF) which was mandated to develop, oversee, deliver … Continue Reading
On 30 June 2022, the Council Presidency and the European Parliament reached provisional agreement on the Regulation on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA). MiCA is part of a broader package of measures to boost digital finance in the EU. The package also includes: A regulation on digital operational resilience (DORA) was agreed in March. DLT pilot … Continue Reading
On 21 April 2022, the Council of the EU published a table regarding the proposed Regulation on information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets (recast). The table has three columns setting out the European Commission’s proposal and the European Parliament and Council mandates.… Continue Reading
On 1 April 2022, the Council of the EU published a three-column table to commence trilogues on the proposed Regulation on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA). The table shows the position adopted by the European Commission, European Parliament and the Council on MiCA.… Continue Reading
On 14 March 2022, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) published a press release on the European Parliament’s website regarding new rules on cryptocurrencies in the EU. The press release reports that members of European Parliament (MEPs) have agreed on draft rules concerning the supervision, consumer protection and environmental sustainability of cryptoassets, including … Continue Reading
New measures regarding crypto-related services providers have now been passed. Following a lengthy consultation process that began in 2018, the decree of the Ministry of Economy and Finance that was approved on 13 January 2022 (the “Decree”) has been published on the Official Journal on 17 February 2022 and entered into force the next day. … Continue Reading
On 16 February 2022, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published its report, ‘Assessment of Risks to Financial Stability from Crypto-assets’. The report examines developments and associated vulnerabilities relating to three segments of crypto-asset markets which are, unbacked crypto-assets, stablecoins, and decentralised finance and crypto-asset trading platforms. The report also highlights a number of vulnerabilities associated … Continue Reading
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis have recently published the results of research showing that there has been a huge increase in the use of decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols to launder money over the last year. DeFi is an emerging financial technology based on secure distributed ledgers similar to those used by cryptocurrencies. In 2021, there was … Continue Reading
29 April 2021 09:00 – 10:00 BST / 16:00 – 17:00 HKT 16:00 – 17:00 BST / 11:00 – 12:00 EDT As the global crypto-economy continues to grow and mature, one area stands out as a critical core capability: custody. In this webinar, members of our global financial services team will compare notes on their … Continue Reading
On 4 February 2021 the Portuguese Presidency of the Council held a first working group during its term in office to continue Member States’ discussions over the proposed regulation on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA). Two main issues on the agenda included discussion on selected issues related to asset-referenced tokens (ART) with payment purposes and those … Continue Reading
In September we published a blog setting out 10 key things that firms needed to know about the draft regulation on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA). We have since published an update on what’s been happening and as we continue our close monitoring of the key developments regarding the MiCA review, in this blog we provide … Continue Reading
On September 24, 2020 the European Commission published its long-anticipated Digital Finance package, comprising legislative proposals and non-legislative communications. One of the legislative proposals published included a draft regulation on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA). MiCA is the first European-level legislative initiative aiming to introduce a harmonized and comprehensive framework for the issuance, application and provision … Continue Reading
In September we published a blog setting out 10 key things that firms needed to know about the draft regulation on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA). In this blog we provide an update on what’s been happening. On 13 November 2020, the German Presidency of the Council hosted a meeting of a working party on financial … Continue Reading
On 23 September 2020 the European Commission published its long-awaited draft regulation on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA), with its accompanying annex and a draft regulation on a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology (DLTR). The proposals, which are part of the broader Digital Finance Strategy package, are the first European-level legislative … Continue Reading
The outline of the anticipated EU legislative framework for markets in crypto-assets is becoming clearer and the European Commission is preparing to publish a legislative proposal by the end of September. The legislative initiative on markets with crypto-assets fall within the broader Commission policy initiative on digital finance, which will also include a legislative proposal … Continue Reading
