ESMA publishes final guidance on implementation of MiCA crypto regulation

the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) released final guidance on Tuesday to help member states implement upcoming regulations. ESMA published final reports on draft standards for reverse solicitation, systems, cryptocurrencies potentially constituting financial instruments, and market abuse prevention techniques.

The European Union's specialized regulations for the cryptocurrency industry, the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), is set to take effect in 27 member states on December 30th. However, some countries have not yet enacted legislation to implement MiCA. The Portuguese central bank said on Monday that, due to the lack of legislation, it is not yet clear which national supervisory authority will be responsible for these rules. Industry associations said that part of the reason for delays by national supervisory authorities is the short time interval between ESMA's final technical standards release in October and the implementation date.