Publication date: 12 December 2018

The EBF published its official position on crypto-assets and initial coin offerings (ICO).

Key recommendations

◆ Ensure an adequate level of consumer protection and transparency by warning investors of the risks involved with transacting and investing in crypto-assets.

◆ In order to avoid overregulation and ensure that the marketing of these assets offers the same guarantees as any other financial assets currently available and supervised by regulators, assess further the current regulatory framework: a) to promote the use of the current regulation if it is already sufficient to address risks related to crypto-assets (e.g. regulating security tokens under the existing regulation on financial assets). b) to identify if regulation is either absent or require adjustments. c) take actions to cover unregulated “grey zone”.

◆ Address the specific AML risks associated with the various stages in a crypto-asset lifecycle by establishing clear regulatory requirements and supervision criteria.

◆ Encourage continued research on the possible and innovative uses of DLT technology and new way to use DLT for achieving new operational improvements and identifying cost-saving opportunities.