MiCA Regulation: current obligations for entities that are not issuers of asset-referenced tokens

MiCA Regulation: current obligations for entities that are not issuers of asset-referenced tokens

Current legal framework

The regulatory framework in the cryptoasset sector has been evolving over the last few years.

In this sense, the first regulation for companies that provided services with crypto assets came from the modification of the Law 10/2010, of April 28, on the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism. However, since then cryptoassets have been subject to various regulatory actions such as those established in Circular 1/2022, of January 10, regarding advertising on cryptoassets presented as an investment object, vigor the Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, known as the Travel Rule or Securities Market Law in Spain. In this sense, this modification introduces key measures to adapt the national legal framework to European regulations on cryptoassets and distributed ledger technologies (DLT).

In this sense, the icing on the cake of all this regulatory activity has ended with the final approval and entry into force of the Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 on markets in crypto-assets and amending Regulations (EU) No 1093/2010 and (EU) No 1095/2010 and Directives 2013/36/EU and (EU) 2019/1937, as mentioned above, MICAR. The purpose of MICAR, as set out in its own article 1, is as follows: This Regulation establishes uniform requirements for the public offer and admission to trading on a trading platform of crypto-assets other than asset-referenced tokens and electronic money tokens, asset-referenced tokens and electronic money tokens, as well as requirements for crypto-asset service providers.

Although the MiCA Regulation will be in force from 30 December 2024, the rules on asset-referenced tokens (Title III) and on electronic money tokens (Title IV) came into force from 30 June 2024 and are therefore mandatory today.

Affected entities

The entities affected by the entry into force of Titles III and IV of the MiCA Regulation are those related to asset-referenced tokens and electronic money tokens.

The MiCA Regulation defines an asset-referenced token: a type of cryptoasset that is not an electronic money token and that aims to hold a stable value referenced to another security or right, or a combination of both, including one or more official currencies.

On the other hand, it is defined as an electronic money token: a type of cryptoasset that, in order to maintain a stable value, is referenced to the value of an official currency.

In this regard, it is important to note that, while the regulation applies directly to issuers of these types of cryptoassets, it also imposes obligations indirectly – and in some cases directly – on cryptoasset service providers that include such tokens on their trading platforms.

Among the measures applicable to entities that are not issuers of asset-referenced tokens, but that collaborate closely with them, the following should be highlighted:

• Establishment of procedures to facilitate the processing of claims between the holders of asset-referenced records and those entities that are not holders of records but that collaborate with them.
• Preparation and provision of a template for filing complaints to asset-referenced token holders, as well as the obligation to keep a record of all complaints received and the measures taken in response to complaints.
• Implementation and maintenance of effective policies and procedures for the detection, prevention, management and communication of conflicts of interest between the issuer of asset-referenced tokens and the non-issuing third party.
• Signing of agreements with issuers of asset-referenced tokens relating to the management of the asset reserve and the investment of the reserve assets, the custody of the reserve assets and, where appropriate, the distribution of the asset-referenced tokens to the public.