Lithuania
MiCA may be implemented sooner in Lithuania
During the Financial Markets Policy Advisory Commission’s meeting, the central focus was on the implementation of the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) and the method of CASP supervision. The meeting’s key takeaway was the proposal of the Ministry of Finance to start implementation of MiCA regulation and issuing the licenses earlier than from 30th of December, 2024. Issuance of the licenses according to MiCA regulation and prudential supervision, as for other financial market participants will be the duty of the Bank of Lithuania. Supervision of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing is distributed between the FCIS and the Bank of Lithuania. Read more.
Bank of Lithuania’s presentation on MiCA
Lithuania’s regulator – the Bank of Lithuania – made a presentation on the general overview of the MiCA regulation emphasizing the new risks that the novel regulatory regime is going to bring by the end of next year. Read more.
Europe
EBA’s technical standards on ART issuers’ authorization and acquisition
The European Banking Authority (EBA) consulted on two sets of draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) and one set of implementing technical standards (ITS) relating to the authorisation as an issuer of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) and the assessment of the acquisition of qualifying holdings in issuers of ARTs under the Markets in Crypto-assets Regulation (MiCAR). With these technical standards, the EBA aims to regulate access to the EU market of ARTs by applicant issuers and persons intending to exercise significant influence on these undertakings via the acquisition of qualifying holdings. Read more
EBA’s responses to the European Commission’s call for advice on stablecoin classification as “significant” and fees that may be charged by EBA
The European Banking Authority (EBA) published its response to the European Commission’s Call for Advice on two EC delegated acts under the Markets in Crypto-assets Regulation (MiCAR) relating to the criteria for determining the significance of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) and electronic money tokens (EMTs) and to the supervisory fees that may be charged by the EBA to issuers of significant ARTs and significant EMTs. Regarding the supervisory fees, the EBA proposes criteria for allocating costs between issuers, as defined in MiCAR, and ensures that all costs it will incur in the performance of its supervisory tasks, including the establishment of supervisory colleges and in the context of any delegation of tasks to national competent authorities, can be charged to issuers of significant ARTs and significant EMTs in accordance with the full cost-recovery approach foreseen in MiCAR. Read more
ESMA’s template forms for its list of issuers’ white papers
ESMA has issued the Proof of Concept (PoC) illustrating a concrete application of the proposed format requirements included in the draft implementing technical standards on forms, formats and templates for the crypto-asset white papers under MiCA regulation. Read more
ESMA’s 2nd consultation paper on MiCA
In addition, ESMA has published its second consultation paper on the technical standards specifying certain requirements on MiCA’s application relating to (i) the content, methodologies and presentation of sustainability indicators and adverse impacts on climate; (ii) continuity and regularity in the performance of CASP services; (iii) offering pre- and post-trade data to the public; (iv) content and format of order book records and record-keeping by CASPs; (v) machine readability of white papers and the register of white papers; and (vi) the technical means for appropriate public disclosure of inside information. ESMA will consider all comments received by 14 December 2023. Read more
EU Parliament’s briefing of MiCA’s regulatory timeline
The EU parliament released a MiCA briefing that summarizes the entire legal basis and step-by-step process of adopting the MiCA regulation. Read more
EU Parliament’s briefing on the regulatory disparity in EU and non-EU countries
In addition, the EU parliament released a briefing on the disparity between the legal frameworks in EU and non-EU countries. It argues that the tighter regulation in the EU as compared with that in third countries may have adverse effects on the development of crypto-asset markets. The briefing explores the regulatory efforts in controlling stablecoins in different jurisdictions such as the US, the UK and others, and comparing them to the efforts made in the EU. Read more
EU Parliament’s favourable vote on DAC8 including crypto-asset taxation
In a plenary session on September 13, lawmakers within the European Union parliament overwhelmingly supported the eighth version of the Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC8), which is a cryptocurrency tax reporting regulation. As per European Union documents, DAC8 aims to grant tax authorities the ability to monitor and evaluate all cryptocurrency transactions carried out by individuals or organizations within the Union. Moving forward, E.U. member states will be required to implement these regulations by December 31, 2025, with the official commencement date set for January 1, 2026. In its current state, DAC8 aligns with the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) and the regulations outlined in MiCA, and it ostensibly encompasses all cryptocurrency asset transactions originating within the European Union. Read more
Prepared by Tautvydas Petrošius, Associate of ECOVIS ProventusLaw
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