18 October 2024
Ian Simpson | 3 min read
The topic of MiCAR – the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation – is top of mind for crypto asset service providers (CASPs) not just in Europe, but also around the world. The implications of MiCAR for the current crypto market and its potential to shape institutional involvement in the space are wide-ranging and far-reaching.
In this episode of RULEMATCH Spot On, host Ian Simpson spoke to Dr. Joachim Schwerin, Principal Economist at the European Commission and a contributor to the drafting and writing of MiCAR. Together they discuss MiCAR’s background, implications for stablecoins, liquidity, bank and broker operations and much more.
Episode show notes:
00:55 Intro and Dr. Schwerin’s background in drafting MiCAR
2:52 How big a deal is MiCAR (really)?
4:32 The second part of MiCAR’s development
6:52 The danger in global convergence of rules
7:48 The true scope and scale of MiCAR
9:30 How MiCAR reverses the “burden of proof” onto regulators
10:45 The need for a liberalization of financial markets with MiCAR
11:28 How will MiCAR change the crypto market in 5 years?
13:45 How the crypto community should consider regulation
14:19 Traditional financial regulation for crypto is “dead”
15:40 MiCAR: horizontal or vertical?
16:10 The real things to look for in 5 years
17:10 Bottom-up innovation needs new forms of regulation
17:45 MiCAR as a desire to target specific market players
19:02 Creating a “radical place that is driven by experimentation”
19:12 Why educating “the right” way is important
20:06 The influence of MiCAR on regulation in other places
22:40 Why competition goes beyond just company vs company
23:49 MiCAR in the context of industrial policy
24:40 MiCAR and GDPR as EU exports
25:56 GDPR as the first crypto regulation
28:20 Specific implications of MiCAR for: best execution
32:07 The ongoing discussions around best execution
33:43 Specific implications of MiCAR: liquidity
34:50 The political reality around stablecoins
35:20 Competitiveness, the dollar’s decline and Europe’s imperative
36:26 “Deal with it”
37:30 Analyzing the “protectionist” view of MiCAR
39:26 How global crypto players will adapt to MiCAR
41:05 Stablecoins as a passing phenomenon
41:59 “MiCA prohibits nothing…”
42:34 Specific implications of MiCAR: tokens deemed securities
46:44 The potential for tokenized assets in Europe
50:10 A curious case of private crypto tech
51:21 Jealous of Switzerland
54:01 Thoughts on Switzerland’s DLT law and MICAR 2.0
56:38 NFTs and MiCAR
58:40 NFTs in the financial domain
1:01:10 The “unexplainably” strict rules around reverse solicitation
1:04:50 The pace of 2nd-level standards publication from ESMA
1:05:44 Is the tail wagging the dog?
1:07:25 The unhealthy focus on a few standards
1:08:59 The number of CASPs in the pipeline for MiCAR
1:10:33 How long will it take for MiCAR to “populate” across European countries?
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