In a recent post by Eventus, the company outlined some of the key things compliance officers need to know around the new Markets in Cryptoassets (MiCA) legislation.
Recently, the European parliament sanctioned comprehensive legislation, MiCA to regulate the crypto assets market. This wide-ranging legislation covers aspects such as transparency, disclosure, and financial stability, offering a new set of guidelines on customer protection, supervision, and prevention of market manipulation.
Set to become operational from July 2023, the new rules will be phased in over a two-year period. Level 1 laws have been adopted, and the European Supervisory Authorities and the Commission will now develop Regulatory and Technical Standards (RTSs). The RTSs concerning Asset Reference Tokens and E-money Tokens are expected to be implemented within the upcoming 12 months. Other provisions related to supervision and the Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs) will be adopted over the next 18 months.
MiCA mandates firms offering crypto services, or issuing tokens that are not financial instruments, to register in one of the EU member states to operate within the bloc. The European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) will monitor the market, ensuring compliance with the rules and that adequate risk management and governance practices are in place. Additionally, ESMA will set up a public register of non-compliant crypto assets service providers in light of MiCA
In a statement, Jonathan Dixon, Director of Regulatory Affairs, EMEA at Eventus said, “Financial professionals now have certainty with regards to the regulatory landscape for crypto assets when it comes to authorisation, licensing and ongoing compliance obligations.”
Compliance officers are set to face their biggest challenges around anti-money laundering (AML) / know your customer (KYC) obligations, licensing and authorisation, and understanding how regulation will evolve in the crypto assets space, Dixon explained.
On the market abuse front, there are three key areas compliance officers should focus on: systems and controls, transaction reporting and record-keeping, and cross-border considerations, Dixon outlined.
The founder of ValueVerse, Dimitrios Psarrakis, warned that the greatest challenge ahead for both compliance officers and supervisory authorities comes down to establishing good terms of collaboration with decision-makers in the crypto asset space to foster institutional trust.
Read the full post here.
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