Crypto-assets: the European Legal Framework

Crypto-assets continue to make worldwide headlines with their value fluctuations and the often-dramatic demises of issuers of crypto-assets or service providers. Nevertheless, crypto-assets have grown from a fringe phenomenon to a global market worth over USD 1 trillion. It should therefore be no surprise that this market is closely watched by legislators and regulators worldwide. However, the legal framework in which this market operates remained less understood for a long time.

This book focuses on the financial and economic law framework regarding virtual currencies or crypto-assets in Europe. It establishes a typology of virtual currencies or crypto-assets and assesses whether they can be considered as money. It analyzes whether the existing EU legal frameworks on electronic money, payment services, anti-money laundering, and markets in financial instruments can be applied to virtual currencies or crypto-assets. A functional comparison is made to the US, where more regulatory initiative has been identified.

In 2023, the European legislator adopted a regulatory package enacting a sweeping reform of the legal framework. This package includes revised anti-money laundering rules, rules on information accompanying the transfer of crypto-assets (“Crypto Travel Rule”), rules on administrative cooperation, a pilot regime for blockchain-based securities trading, rules on digital operational resilience, and – most importantly – rules on markets in crypto-assets. The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) will form the core of EU regulation of crypto-assets for years to come and a thorough understanding of this framework is therefore key to all practitioners in this field.

This book is a revised edition of “Virtual Currencies: a legal framework”, thoroughly updated to include the 2023 reforms enacted in the European Union.

Dr. Niels Vandezande is a legal consultant at Timelex and senior affiliated researcher at the KU Leuven Centre for IT & IP Law (CiTiP). He specializes in FinTech and closely follows all developments regarding crypto-assets, DeFi, Web3 and blockchain.

Digital version available on :

• Strada lex Belgium
• Strada lex Europa

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