RegRally Insights: Crypto & Investments Regulation, September 2026

August’s crypto and investment news came from both sides of the Atlantic. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed “Regulation Crypto Assets”, a bespoke federal framework with direct implications for firms operating under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). At home, the Bank of Lithuania granted new investment licences and drew a useful perimeter line for crowdfunding platforms, while the European authorities kept adjusting the market plumbing, from derivatives margin requirements to position reporting.

The September edition of RegRally is for crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), investment firms, fund managers and crowdfunding platforms operating in the Baltics and across the EU.

This month at a glance

• Lithuania licensing: the Bank of Lithuania licensed Evernord Asset Management as a management company of alternative collective investment undertakings, with a scope covering informed-investor funds, UCITS, real-estate funds and portfolio management, and approved Nasdaq Vilnius rule changes introducing the Auction Volume Discovery (AVD) order across the Baltic markets from 21 September.
• Lithuania supervision: a Category C brokerage licence went to Aria Securities, structured without holding client funds or financial instruments. FinoMark’s crowdfunding licence was supplemented with a strictly non-matching bulletin board, and the 2026 inspection plan was adjusted for two payment sector firms.
• United States: the SEC proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, moving toward a bespoke federal crypto regime with registration exemptions for certain offerings. Firms active in both markets will manage two distinct authorisation and disclosure regimes.
• Prudential: the European Banking Authority (EBA) is consulting on revised technical standards for when large investment firms are reclassified as credit institutions. Feedback runs to 25 November 2026, with a public hearing on 30 September 2026.
• Derivatives and markets: the European Supervisory Authorities proposed amendments to bilateral margin requirements for non-centrally cleared OTC derivatives under EMIR, and ESMA confirmed the go-live of weekly commodity derivatives position reporting.

Bank of Lithuania licenses Evernord Asset Management and approves Nasdaq Vilnius rule changes

Date: 26 August 2026 | Source: Lietuvos bankas (Bank of Lithuania)
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What happened?

In its Financial Market Supervision Committee decisions of 26 August, the Bank of Lithuania took two decisions relevant to investment activity.

It licensed Evernord Asset Management UAB as a management company of alternative collective investment undertakings. The licence permits the company to manage collective investment undertakings intended for informed investors (including those intended for professional investors), to manage undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS), to manage real-estate collective investment undertakings, and to manage portfolios of financial instruments belonging to other persons.

It also approved Baltic membership rules amendments at the request of AB Nasdaq Vilnius. Part of the amendments implement the European Commission regulation establishing requirements for the publication of market data on reasonable commercial terms. A new order type, the Auction Volume Discovery (AVD) order, will be introduced for use in opening and closing auctions. It is intended to increase auction liquidity without adversely affecting price formation and will be rolled out across all three Baltic markets in stages from 21 September. The rule amendments enter into force on 1 September 2026.

Why it matters for crypto and investment businesses

The breadth of the Evernord licence is the useful part. It shows what a single Lithuanian management company authorisation can cover, from informed-investor funds to UCITS to portfolio management, which makes it a concrete benchmark for anyone scoping their own application.

For trading members, the AVD order and the market-data requirements are operational changes with fixed dates, not background news.

Recommended actions

Businesses should:

• use the scope granted to Evernord as a benchmark when scoping their own licence application (managers planning Lithuanian AIFM or UCITS activity), and apply expressly for individual portfolio-management permission where the business model requires it
• update rulebook compliance, order-handling and best-execution documentation for the AVD order type (trading members on Nasdaq Vilnius)
• review market-data licensing and redistribution arrangements against the reasonable-commercial-terms requirements

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Bank of Lithuania licenses Aria Securities and expands FinoMark’s crowdfunding permissions

Date: 20 August 2026 | Source: Lietuvos bankas (Bank of Lithuania)
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What happened?

The Financial Market Supervision Committee decisions bulletin of 20 August contained four decisions.

A Category C financial brokerage (investment) firm licence went to UAB Aria Securities, permitting the reception and transmission of orders, management of financial instrument portfolios, provision of investment advice, and placing of financial instruments without a firm commitment basis. Ancillary services were also authorised: advising undertakings on capital structure and business strategy, advice and services on reorganisations and acquisitions, and investment research and financial analysis. Notably, the firm will not hold client funds or client financial instruments, which materially narrows its safeguarding and prudential profile.

The crowdfunding licence of UAB “FinoMark” was supplemented with the right to operate a bulletin board on which registered and properly identified platform clients may advertise an intention to transfer or acquire claims relating to loans originally offered on the platform. The board will operate only as a technical facility. It will not automatically match buying and selling interests, execute client orders or conclude claim-transfer agreements, which is the boundary that keeps such a facility outside the trading-venue perimeter under the Crowdfunding Regulation (ECSPR).

The 2026 inspection plan was adjusted: the planned on-site inspection of electronic money institution UAB B4B PAYMENTS EUROPE will be replaced by off-site (remote) supervision, and the inspection window for payment institution RIA Lithuania UAB moves from August to October 2026 to November 2026 to January 2027. Senior appointments were approved at UAB SME Bank (head of the internal audit service) and Urbo bankas (board member).

Why it matters for crypto and investment businesses

The Aria Securities licence shows a design lever applicants control. Structuring the firm without client asset holding materially reduces the safeguarding and prudential burden.

The FinoMark decision is a perimeter lesson. A bulletin board stays within a crowdfunding licence only as long as it stays passive. The moment it matches or executes, it becomes a trading venue question.

Recommended actions

Businesses should:

• note that excluding client asset holding reduces the safeguarding and prudential burden, and scope ancillary services explicitly in the application (investment-firm applicants)
• keep any bulletin board strictly non-matching and non-executing and document that design (crowdfunding platforms adding secondary-liquidity features), since any automated matching of buy and sell interest risks triggering trading venue and MiFID authorisation requirements
• re-check their slot and re-phase inspection-readiness work (PIs and EMIs named in the published inspection plan), since a switch to off-site supervision is not reduced scrutiny and data requests and remote reviews should be expected

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SEC proposes Regulation Crypto Assets, a bespoke US framework with MiCA implications

Date: 18 August 2026 | Source: SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)
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What happened?

The SEC proposed new rules titled “Regulation Crypto Assets”, intended to create a clear and fit-for-purpose framework for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets. The proposal includes registration exemptions for certain crypto-asset offerings and clearer pathways for issuers and intermediaries.

The proposal marks a decisive move toward a bespoke US federal crypto regime rather than regulation by enforcement. It has significant cross-border implications for firms that also operate under MiCA.

Why it matters for crypto and investment businesses

For EU and Baltic crypto-asset firms with US-facing activity, the proposal signals both new opportunities, through clearer exemptions, and the need to manage two distinct authorisation and disclosure regimes.

Recommended actions

Crypto-asset firms with US touchpoints should:

• assess the proposed exemptions and registration options and consider submitting comments during the consultation period
• map points of divergence and convergence with MiCA (authorisation, white-paper and disclosure, and marketing rules) when structuring cross-border token offerings and services
• review group structures to ensure US-facing activity is ring-fenced or appropriately authorised

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EBA consults on when large investment firms become credit institutions

Date: 25 August 2026 | Source: EBA (European Banking Authority)
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What happened?

The EBA launched a consultation on revised regulatory technical standards (RTS) on the reclassification of investment firms as credit institutions.

The RTS address how total assets should be calculated against the reclassification threshold, how investment firms should report that information to competent authorities, and the conditions under which authorities may grant a waiver. The proposals refine the methodology under the Investment Firms Regulation and Directive (IFR/IFD) and the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) framework.

The feedback deadline is 25 November 2026, with a virtual public hearing scheduled for 30 September 2026.

Why it matters for crypto and investment businesses

Crossing the threshold means becoming a credit institution, with the prudential and authorisation consequences that follow. For firms near the line, how total assets are calculated is not a technicality but the whole question.

Recommended actions

Large investment firms approaching the total-assets threshold should:

• model the impact of potential reclassification as a credit institution and prepare for the associated prudential and authorisation consequences
• assess the proposed reporting mechanics and the waiver conditions against the firm’s structure
• consider responding to the consultation and attending the public hearing

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European Supervisory Authorities propose amendments to bilateral margin requirements under EMIR

Date: 3 August 2026 | Source: EBA / EIOPA / ESMA (Joint Committee of the ESAs)
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What happened?

The EBA, EIOPA and ESMA proposed amendments to the bilateral margin requirements for non-centrally cleared over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).

The changes concern the exchange of initial and variation margin and related documentation for in-scope counterparties. They align the EU framework with international standards and ease certain operational burdens.

Why it matters for crypto and investment businesses

Margin requirements drive collateral, documentation and onboarding work. When the in-scope population or the mechanics change, repapering follows, and it is cheaper planned than forced.

Recommended actions

Derivatives counterparties should:

• assess the impact on margin models, thresholds, and collateral and legal documentation
• update onboarding and repapering plans where the amended requirements change in-scope relationships

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ESMA confirms go-live of weekly commodity derivatives position reporting

Date: 14 August 2026 | Source: ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority)
Link

What happened?

ESMA confirmed the go-live of weekly commodity derivatives position reporting, strengthening position transparency and the monitoring of position limits under the MiFID II and MiFIR framework.

The move increases the frequency and consistency of position data available to regulators across trading venues, supporting market-integrity supervision in commodity markets.

Why it matters for crypto and investment businesses

Weekly reporting is an operational cadence change. Data quality issues that were tolerable at lower frequency surface fast when the cycle tightens.

Recommended actions

Firms holding commodity derivatives positions should:

• confirm their reporting systems, data quality and processes are aligned with the weekly reporting requirement
• review position-limit monitoring and ancillary-activity assessments in light of the enhanced reporting

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What crypto and investment businesses should focus on now

The Lithuanian decisions are the practical ones. Licence scope is a design choice: the breadth of the Evernord authorisation and Aria Securities’ no-client-assets structure show two ends of the same lever, and the FinoMark bulletin board marks exactly where a crowdfunding licence ends and a trading venue question begins.

Across the Atlantic, the SEC’s Regulation Crypto Assets proposal means cross-border crypto firms should start mapping the US and MiCA regimes side by side now, while the consultation is still open, rather than after the rules land.

And the EU calendar is filling up. The Nasdaq Vilnius rule amendments took effect on 1 September, the AVD rollout starts from 21 September, the EBA hearing is on 30 September and its consultation closes on 25 November. These are diary items, not reading material.

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How ECOVIS ProventusLaw can help crypto and investment businesses

Our fintech and investment team advises crypto-asset and investment businesses across the Baltics on:

• MiCA authorisation strategy and regulatory perimeter mapping
• scoping AIFM, UCITS and investment firm licence applications, including ancillary services and client-asset choices
• crowdfunding licensing and the design of secondary-liquidity features under ECSPR
• structuring cross-border activity across the EU and US regimes
• white papers, token offerings and disclosure documents
• AML/CTF, Travel Rule and sanctions controls for crypto businesses
• DORA and ICT risk readiness
• dialogue with financial supervisors, from pre-licensing consultations to inspections

If a licence application, a perimeter question or a new regulatory proposal touches your plans, we can help you scope it before the regulator asks.