French Regulator Revises Crypto Rules to Align With EU’s MiCA Law

France’s financial market regulator said it’s adjusting the rules for crypto companies in line with Europe’s new regulatory framework. The changes, which will enter into force next year, seek to enhance registration requirements for businesses offering certain services for digital assets like custody and trading.

AMF Revamps Crypto Regulations to Enforce Stricter Registration Rules for DASPs

Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), the French financial regulator, announced Thursday it’s amending its regulations and policies regarding digital asset service providers (DASPs) to implement “enhanced” registration for some of these entities.

The new requirements for crypto companies were introduced with a law known by the French abbreviation DDADUE, allowing the government in Paris to transpose European Union directives, which was adopted earlier this year.

The DDADUE law clarified some provisions relating to the EU’s new Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation. It introduced an “enhanced” registration regime that will be mandatory from Jan. 1, 2024 for market players who wish to provide certain services for digital assets, such as custody, buying with and selling coins for fiat as well as crypto-to-crypto trading.

The amendments the AMF is making now seek to incorporate in its General Regulation and policy the provisions applicable to DASPs which are subject to “enhanced” registration. The other main objective is to align the requirements for DASPs in France with those for obtaining an EU authorization for crypto asset service providers (CASPs) under MiCA.

The enhanced DASP registration comes with various requirements for crypto companies, including the implementation of adequate security and internal control systems and systems for managing conflicts of interest as well as the provision of accurate and non-misleading information and maintaining public pricing policies.

There are also specific provisions regarding the custody of customer funds requiring the segregation of client and company assets and prohibiting the use of client assets without their express prior consent. The new French standards come amid a global clampdown on the crypto industry with regulators accusing major crypto exchanges like the bankrupt FTX and the world’s largest crypto trading platform, Binance, of diverting or commingling customer funds.

France’s relatively clear regulatory framework until now has attracted a number of crypto companies, including , as well as institutional players that want to offer digital asset services to their clients. In June, AMF Secretary General Benoît de Juvigny was quoted as saying that “if American players want to benefit, in the very short term from the French regime, and from the start of 2025 from European arrangements, clearly they are welcome.”

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