CAPITAL MARKETS | Jurisdiction of national competent authorities in the regulation of crypto-assets

On 29 October 2024, CONSOB and Banca d’Italia issued a joint communication providing clarifications over their respective competences under Law Decree No. 129/2024, implementing EU Regulation 2023/1114 [1] (MiCAR) which regulate the crypto-asset market. The powers attributed to CONSOB comprise (a) supervising the transparency and fair conduct of “asset related token” (so called “ART”) issuers and crypto asset service providers; (b) supervising compliance with MiCAR requirements governing the operation of trading platforms for crypto-assets, regardless of the operator and including the way the platforms are set up  and any outsourcing of operations; (c) supervising in the area of public offering and admission to trading for crypto-assets other than electronic money tokens (so called “EMT”) and ART; (d) temporarily restricting or prohibiting the sale of certain crypto currencies (EMT not included), whenever investor protection must be ensured; (e) intervention on ARTs and crypto-assets other than EMTs and ARTs, where required to protect investors and to ensure orderly trading and the integrity of crypto-asset markets; (f) preventing and combating market abuse involving crypto-assets; (g) countering the provision of crypto-asset services without a licence and the offering of crypto-assets other than EMTs and ARTs without a white paper being notified. Banca d’Italia’s competences, instead, comprise (a) crisis management, with reference to issuers of ART/EMT, and crypto-asset service providers; (b) supervising the transparency and fair conduct of EMT issuers and ensuring the protection of EMT holders; (c) supervising of crypto-asset service providers and of banks and other financial intermediaries acting as issuers of ARTs and EMTs, for the purposes of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism; (d) countering to money laundering and financing of terrorist activities by crypto asset service providers or intermediaries issuing ART and/or EMT; (e) product intervention on EMTs and – where required to preserve the stability of the whole or part of the financial system – on ARTs and crypto-assets other than EMTs and ARTs.

Newsletter n. 102 – December 2024

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Notes:

[1] The MiCAR provides for a harmonised framework the for the issuance crypto currencies and related services which are not related to financial instruments or services already regulated by EU legislation.