European Union: Closed consultation on ESMA Guidelines for Classification of Crypto-Assets along with a standardised test

On 12 October 2024, the European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA, ESMA) closes its public consultation on the draft guidelines on templates for explanations and opinions and a standardised test for classifying crypto-assets under Article 97(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (MiCAR). The guidelines aim to harmonise the approach to crypto-asset classification, ensuring market integrity and financial stability while providing high standards of consumer and investor protection. Furthermore, the guidelines govern the offering and trading of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs), e-money tokens (EMTs), and other crypto-assets in the EU, setting out various regulatory requirements for issuers and service providers. In addition, the draft guidelines include templates for the content and form of explanations accompanying crypto-asset white papers, templates for legal opinions on the qualification of ARTs and a standardised test for the classification of crypto-assets to ensure consistent regulatory application across the EU. The implementation of the guidelines is expected two months after publication in all official EU languages.