what changes for operators and investors (also for Bitcoin) – Corriere.it

In Europe, the first regulation of digital assets is on its way. On Thursday 20 April, the European Parliament gave the green light to the Mica regulation (Markets in crypto assets), which will now have to be approved by the European Council and then published in the Journal. From then on, the 27 EU member states will have 18 months to make the new rules operational at national level. The goal is to arrive at a regulatory framework that is homogeneous throughout the European Union and that can better protect the end investor. But there is still a long way to go. From a legal point of view, Mica is certainly an absolute first, and this will go down in history – he explains Andrea Conso, partner of Studio Annunziata & Conso – but in my opinion more could have been done. The legislation still needs to be tested and it will be necessary to see if it will be able to grasp all the facets of a very complex market.

Industry opinions

The operators’ opinion on the new EU regulation is not unequivocal: there are those who applaud the initiative and those who believe that more could have been done. Ferdinando Ametrano, founder of CheckSig (Italian company active in the custody and sale of cryptocurrencies) welcomes a clarification that allows the industry to be able to organize itself in the best possible way: Even before evaluating the regulatory framework, we need to look at the positive news, i.e.that there is now a package of rules on digital assets. And this allows operators to move in a clear and defined area. Europe has decided to follow a different approach from the USA, where there is no ad hoc regulation. And now Mica could put Europe in pole position.
More critical, however, Christian Miccoli, founder of Conio (Italian broker who also offers bitcoin custody services), who looks at the positive sides of European regulation, but at the same time still sees some shadows: The good news is that Mica opens access to all European markets and smoothes the way to the possibility of tokenising the euro – he argues -. In fact, however, in my opinion it applies a copy of the main regulations that we already have in financial fields to assets that are not financial, with some paradoxical results, such as leaving NFTs out of regulation (non-fungible tokens, ed) and the Defi (decentralized finance, ed).

The areas of application: obligations and responsibilities

Different fronts on which he intervened Mica regulationstarting from the classification of everything that can be traced back to the crypto-asset hat. The new rules then impose a series of obligations on companies that provide services in digital assets and introduce various responsibilities for issuers.
For a major investor protectionthen, Mica introduces the principle of asset separation for all operators who provide services in crypto-assets. In essence, therefore, the customers’ funds must be clearly distinguished from those of the supplier and must be attributed to a specific address on the blockchain.

The classification of tokens and the exclusion of Defi and Nft

Crypto-assets are classified by the Mica regulation into three types: Electronic money (Ert) tokens, Asset referenced tokens (Art) and utility tokens. The first two classes include the so-called stablecoins, i.e. those virtual currencies that aim to keep their value stable, with one difference: ERTs are linked to a sovereign currency, such as the dollar or the euro, ARTs, on the other hand, are linked to a basket of different assets, which they can be sovereign currencies, but also commodities. In the last typology, that is that of the utility tokensall those assets that are not classified as Ert and Art are included. They do not fall under the Mica hat, however, the Nft and the Defias they are subject respectively to the guidelines of the ESMA and those of the EBA.

Bitcoin outside the Mica: what to know

In addition to Nft and Defi, not even the bitcoin intercepted by Mica, unlike other cryptocurrencies, which instead fall within the category of utility tokens. The new European regulation expressly speaks of tokens issued by companies – Conso points out -, and bitcoin does not have an issuer. Regulating the authorization regime linked to the provision of services, however, somehow Mica also indirectly affects bitcoin. If you provide services using blockchain technology, for example allowing you to buy and sell bitcoins, you still have to comply with the European regulation.

The obligations of the operators

To the operators of the sector, who are exchanger or platforms that provide crypto-asset services, registration with the competent authority of the country in which they operate is required. Authorization which can then also be passported to the European level. Furthermore, issuers of utility tokens are required to draw up a specific document, the White Paper (a sort of prospectus), to be notified to the competent authorities and which must contain a series of information such as the description of the project, the type of crypto- assets and company description. To issue Asset referenced tokensFurthermore, companies must obtain specific authorisation, which can be denied in the event of a threat to financial stability. Operators that provide custody services must also obtain specific authorisation, unless they are already supervised subjects, such as banks or investment firms.

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