Well over two years after the Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation (MiCA) was first proposed, the European Parliament gave it the green light on 20 April 2023 and MiCA was adopted by the Council on 16 May 2023. MiCA is likely to enter into force in July 2023 following publication in the Official Journal, with some provisions applying a year later and the rest from January 2025. Read more

The FCA has released its Business Plan 2023/24; the plan covers the second year in the FCA's three-year Strategy.  This is one document among the annual publications issued by the regulator which provide insight into its priorities and focus... Read more

This article was first published in The Banker on 3 March 2023. Final decision yet to be made The world of money is changing. The received wisdom of “cash is king” has long been declining and the world is gradually moving to a more digitised banking space where digital deposits and payments have become dominant; … Read more

In this blog post, we round-up key forthcoming developments in the UK and at EU and International levels in financial services regulation which are expected to happen in March and April 2023. Read more

A major virtual asset (VA) regulatory milestone occurred last week when the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published its much anticipated Consultation Paper on the proposed Regulatory Requirements for Virtual Asset Trading Platform Operators Licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission (Consultation Paper). Among other things, the SFC proposes to allow all types of investors, including retail, to access VA trading platforms (VATP) provided the VATP comply with a range of robust investor protection measures. Read more

Three years after publication of an initial legal statement on cryptoassets and smart contracts, the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT) has published a second legal statement (Statement) on the issuance and transfer of equity or debt securities using blockchain or other distributed ledger technology (DLT) under English law. Read more

HM Treasury (HMT) has published its long-awaited consultation (Consultation) and call for evidence (Call for Evidence) on the regulation of cryptoassets that are not stablecoins, e-money or already regulated by virtue of amounting to a traditional financial services instrument (a share, bond, unit in a fund, derivative, etc). Its scope is broad and captures a whole swathe of cryptoassets including cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, as well as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Read more

On 16 December 2022, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (the "BCBS") published its much-anticipated standard on the prudential treatment of cryptoasset exposures (the "Standard"), which will be incorporated into the consolidated Basel Framework in due course. Read more