Financial Regulator Clarifies Bitcoin and Ether Are Not Securities in Belgium – In response to multiple clarification requests from citizens and businesses, the Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has explained why it does not consider bitcoin, ether, and other similar cryptocurrencies to be securities or investment instruments. According to a position paper published on Thursday, the country’s securities laws do not apply to such digital assets, which lack an issuer and are generated by computer code as opposed to the execution of a contract between an issuer and an investor.
Nonetheless, the regulatory body emphasized that if these crypto assets have a payment or exchange function, if they are exchangeable or fungible, then other regulations may apply to them as well as to the providers of certain associated services. The FSMA added that despite the absence of specific legislation, cryptocurrencies can be considered securities if they are incorporated into financial instruments and have an issuer, such as an individual or a legal entity.
The authority has adopted a “stepwise plan” to provide a series of classification guidelines for crypto assets in an effort to assist interested parties, who have been sending an increasing number of questions about the financial rules governing crypto assets. The Belgian financial regulator emphasized that the plan is technology-neutral. “The qualification as security, financial instrument or investment instrument does not depend on the technology that is being used,” it elaborated, adding that it’s ready to update the plan in order to reflect regulatory changes in the future.
The adoption of the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework, which was agreed upon by European institutions and member states at the end of June, could be one such event. The FSMA initiated a consultation regarding the classification of crypto assets in July. Earlier this year, the regulator implemented registration requirements for cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers.
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