The public view on crypto-assets ranges from the holy grail of disintermediation in financial services to mere scam. Regardless of that, and despite a recent backlash, the use of crypto-assets by retail and institutional investors as means of payment or investment has seen unprecedented growth over the recent years.
Legislators are still catching up with these developments. The European Union (EU) has become a front-runner in these developments by adopting the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). On 20 April 2023, MiCA was formally adopted by the European Parliament and is expected to be published in the Official Journal soon.
The previous absence of a Union-wide regulatory framework for crypto-assets has resulted in a fragmented legal treatment among member states, hampering cross-border activities of crypto-asset service providers and digital innovation in the EU. The EU has now undertaken the steps to subject crypto-assets to a Union-wide comprehensive framework, named MiCA, that will significantly change how crypto-assets and related services can be offered throughout the EU. MiCA includes provisions for persons considering to issue crypto-assets or to provide crypto-asset services.
The MiCA is a comprehensive and complex new legal framework. Freshfields has prepared a new MiCA navigator to serve as your initial source to get an overview over MiCA.
