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2021 Int'l Bus. L.J. 179 (2021)
Crypto-Assets: The Draft "MICA" Regulation Aims for a New EU Regulation

handle is hein.journals/ibuslj2021 and id is 185 raw text is: Matthieu LUCCHESI* Cryptocurrencies; Electronic money; EU law; Financial regulation; Initial coin offerings Since the creation of Bitcoin in 2008, the market for crypto- assets (or assets recorded on a blockchain) has changed considerably. Initially reserved for specialist experts, this market now seems to be expanding to include new partici- pants. A growing number of established players, and in particular several well-known banking and financial institu- tions, have announced the launch of concrete projects to explore the opportunities offered by crypto-assets and rela- ted services. In August 2020, this market represented an estimated global asset volume of over EUR 350 billion.1 This remains small when compared with the traditional assets market, such as that for financial instruments. Nevertheless, it has grown over the past ten years in an erratic as well as a significant way, not only in terms of capitalisation but also in terms of the asset categories cov- ered. These different categories relate to the multiple eco- nomic uses these crypto-assets may be used for. A distinction can thus be made between: (i) crypto-assets used as means of payment (payment tokens); (ii) those granting their bearer special access to specific prerogatives (utility tokens); and (iii) those that can be assimilated to financial instruments because they have the same char- acteristics (called security tokens). These categories do not, as such, correspond to a legal classification established and harmonised at EU level. They are the result of a fairly shared consensus at international Depuis la creation du Bitcoin en 2008, le march6 des crypto-actifs (ou actifs enregistres sur une blockchain) a considerablement 6volu6. Initialement reserve a des experts specialistes, ce march6 semble a present elargir son perimetre a de nouveaux participants. De plus en plus d'acteurs etablis, et en particulier plusieurs institutions bancaires et financieres reconnues, ont annonce le lancement de projets concrets pour explorer les opportunites offertes par les crypto-actifs et les services dont ils peuvent faire l'ob jet. Globalement, ce marche represente, en aoit 2020, un volume d'actifs estim6 au niveau mondial a plus de E350 milliards. Cette taille reste limitee par rapport au marche des actifs dits traditionnels tels que le march6 des instruments financiers. Elle a neanmoins connu au cours des 10 dernieres annees une croissance, certes discontinue, mais aussi notoire, non seulement en termes de capitalisation, mais aussi en categories d'actifs quelle recouvre. Ces diffbrentes categories ont trait aux multiples utilites economiques auxquelles ces crypto-actifs peuvent repondre. Ont ainsi pu ttre distingus (i) les crypto-actifs utilises comme moyens de paiement (les jetons de paiement) ; (ii) ceux octroyant a leur porteur un acces particulier a des prerogatives specifiques (les utility tokens) ;et (iii) ceux assimilables a des instruments financiers car ils en ont les mimes caracteristiques (appelis les security tokens). Ces categories ne correspondent pas en tant que telles a une classification juridique 6tablie et harmonisee au niveau de lUE. Elles rbsultent d'un * Innovation@FinTech (Gide 255), Attorney-at-Law (New York). RDAI/IBLJ, N02, 2021 @ 2021 Thomson Reuters and Contributors CRYPTO-ASSETS: THE DRAFT MICA REGULATION AIMS FOR A NEW EU REGULATION CRYPTO-ACTIFS : LE PROJET DE REGLEMENT «MICA» VERS UNE NOUVELLE REGLEMENTATION POUR L'UE 179

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