The European Commission proposes the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA)

On 23 September 2020 the European Commission officially proposed MiCA, a bespoke regulatory framework for crypto-assets and stablecoins. The proposal is aimed at crypto-assets, stablecoins and service providers of such digital assets that currently fall outside existing EU financial services legislation.

The European Commission has stated that the “bespoke regime for crypto-assets will ensure a high level of consumer and investor protection and market integrity, by regulating the main activities related to crypto-assets (such as crypto-assets issuance, wallet provision, exchange and trading platforms). By imposing requirements (such as governance, operational requirements) on the main crypto-asset service providers and issuers operating in the EU, the proposal is likely to reduce the amounts of fraud and theft of crypto-assets."

Gibraltar's bespoke DLT regulatory framework, which have been in force since 1st January 2018, tackle many of the issues that the European Commission seeks to address with MICA. Gibraltar based DLT Providers authorised by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission will therefore be familiar with a number of the requirements that the European Commission is proposing to impose on crypto-asset service providers.

Photo credit: European Commission