{"id":70589,"date":"2022-11-25T12:24:37","date_gmt":"2022-11-25T10:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=70589"},"modified":"2025-09-08T03:11:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T00:11:59","slug":"belgian-regulator-questions-bitcoin-and-ethereum-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/belgian-regulator-questions-bitcoin-and-ethereum-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgian regulator questions Bitcoin and Ethereum rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum lack issuers and do not meet the criteria of securities, and therefore should not be subject to financial rules. This was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fsma.be\/en\/news\/classification-crypto-assets-securities-investment-instruments-or-financial-instruments\">stated<\/a> by Belgium&#8217;s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA).<\/p>\n<p>The regulator responded to a rising number of inquiries concerning supervision of digital assets. The authority aims to close the most frequently encountered &#8216;grey areas&#8217;, including classifying cryptocurrencies as securities.<\/p>\n<p>Under a technology-neutral approach approved in the country, the classification as a financial or investment instrument should not depend on whether the asset is based on blockchain.<\/p>\n<p>According to a July public consultation paper, the instruments issued by issuers are likely to be securities. This means investors would need a prospectus. The issuance would need to comply with <a href=\"https:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/MiFID\">MiFID<\/a>, which requires transparency and freedom from conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n<p>Crypto startups must comply with <span data-descr=\"anti-money laundering\" class=\"old_tooltip\">AML<\/span>-rules. Under <span data-descr=\"Markets in Crypto Assets\" class=\"old_tooltip\">MiCA<\/span>, token issuers will have to present a white paper, comparable to a securities prospectus.<\/p>\n<p>Rules adopted in Belgium in 2014 prohibit the distribution of blockchain-based instruments to retail investors.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, Binance&#8217;s executive vice president for Europe, Martin Brunko, <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/opinion-the-mica-bill-will-simplify-crypto-firms-operations-in-europe\">would simplify the work<\/a> of crypto companies in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>In September, the exchange&#8217;s CEO Changpeng Zhao <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/changpeng-zhao-hails-eu-crypto-regulation-bill\">described the bill as &#8216;fantastic&#8217;<\/a>, but &#8216;a bit strict&#8217; on stablecoins. In his view, the document could become a &#8216;global standard&#8217; in cryptocurrency regulation for other jurisdictions.<\/p>\n<p>In November, the European Parliament <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/european-parliament-delays-vote-on-mica-regulation\">pushed back<\/a> the final vote on the bill to February 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Read ForkLog&#8217;s Bitcoin news on our <a href=\"\/\/telegram.me\/forklog\u201d\\\" target=\"\u201c_blank\u201d\" rel=\"\u201cnofollow\u201d noopener\">Telegram<\/a> \u2014 cryptocurrency news, prices and analysis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum lack issuers and do not meet the criteria of securities, and therefore should not be subject to financial rules. This was stated by Belgium&#8217;s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":70590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[217,36],"class_list":["post-70589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-belgium","tag-regulation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"29","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70591,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70589\/revisions\/70591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}