MiCAR: regulatory challenges in the new Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation

Abstract

Over the past decade, we have witnessed a gradual and rapid rise of crypto assets on the global scene. Precisely because of the ever-increasing number of investors, the need was felt to create an underlying regulation for these instruments that could protect them. The technological complexity underlying crypto-assets and the fact that they can be used for different purposes (e.g. means of payment, utility tokens, etc.) has not only made it difficult to define this phenomenon but also to regulate it. Although several European states have introduced specific rules to regulate the world of crypto-assets, the need to introduce a single harmonized framework was felt to safeguard the single European market. In this context, in 2020 the European Commission published its first proposal on the regulation of crypto assets, in order to answer all these questions and finally put an end to the interpretative uncertainties that gravitate around these assets. The MiCA regulation is the first European regulation that gives an official definition of crypto assets and creates a single regulation to which they will be subject. The goal is to regulate the market in a homogeneous way within all the member states of the Union, trying to achieve the maximum possible legislative harmonization and protect the EU's financial stability. This essay aims to analyze the new regulatory regime and its key points. We will then try to understand if this legislation has finally put an end to the regulatory uncertainties of crypto-assets, or if this goal has been disregarded. Subsequently, particular attention will be paid to e-money tokens, first trying to understand how the new MiCAR regime wants to regulate them, and then studying the regulatory challenges of this new Regulation.