The European Banking Authority (EBA) and European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) have jointly published a consultation paper under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). It concerns two sets of guidelines: one on suitability assessments for the management bodies of crypto asset service providers (CASPs) and issuers of asset referenced tokens (ARTs), and the other on suitability assessments for the shareholders and members of the same organisations.
In a press release announcing the consultation, ESMA states that ”to foster and protect the integrity of the market in crypto assets and related services and to promote trust, it is important to ensure that the members of the management body of issuers of ARTs and CASPs as well as the persons that hold or wish to acquire qualifying holdings in them are suitable”.
The guidelines are expected to provide “clarity and harmonisation with respect to the criteria to assess the suitability of the management body, the shareholders and members with qualifying holdings, thus reducing the risk of arbitrage in the application of the rules”.
The deadline for the consultation is 22 January 2024.