The European Commission releases a consultation paper on MiCA standards for cryptocurrency asset service providers
As part of its role under MiCA legislation, the European Securities and Markets Authority will issue three consultations.
On July 12, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the markets regulator of the European Union (EU), issued a consultative paper on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) mandates. According to the agency, it is the first of three consultation packages that will detail technical specifications for crypto asset service providers (CASPs).
Entities that are already licensed are deemed by MiCA to be “generally capable of providing crypto-asset services,” but they will be required to provide extra information in the form of notifications to the national competent authorities (NCAs) of the countries in which they are registered. The document solicited feedback on regulatory technical standards and implementation technical standards for CASP notifications.
ESMA also solicited input on legislative and technical standards for CASP authorization applications, complaint processing, and managing and preventing conflicts of interest. Finally, the ESMA regulator’s technical guidelines for disclosures to NCAs by organizations proposing to buy shares in a CASP are open for public comment. The paper’s responses are due by September 20. As required by MiCA, a draught of the finalized standards will be presented to the European Commission by June 30, 2024. The second consultative package will be delivered in October, and the third in the first quarter of 2024, to coincide with the ESMA timeframes stipulated in MiCA.
In addition to criticism, ESMA asked respondents four more general questions. It went on to say:
“As part of a fact-finding exercise, ESMA hopes to gather more insight into respondents’ current and planned activities to better understand EU crypto-asset markets.”
The survey included questions about planned turnover, the number of white papers respondents intend to publish, and their use of on-chain and off-chain trading. On April 20, the European Parliament approved Mica. It will be implemented in three stages between 2024 and 2025.
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