Perspektive globalne regulacije kriptovalut (Mykyta Grechyna)

Nedavno sta se Evropski parlament in Evropska komisija začasno dogovorila o regulacijskem projektu, namenjenem trgu kriptovalut, imenovanem Regulacija trgov kripto sredstev (MiCA). We can already notice certain principles by which
respective authorities worldwide will highly likely regulate the crypto asset projects. MiCA is the first forthcoming international regulation in the largest single market on the planet aimed at cryptocurrency businesses.

The European Union (EU) is ready to become a global pioneer to set the standards of a comprehensive crypto regulation that many other jurisdictions may integrate into their own crypto legislation or at least use MiCA as a reference. The planned stablecoins
regulation in the United States (US) is postponed. However, there is a high chance that the US regulation may derive certain principles from the MiCA to at least partly harmonize such an international industry as crypto. That is why it is essential to understand
the logic of how European lawmakers want to treat crypto businesses.

Že danes lahko opazimo in izpostavimo kritične trende, po katerih bo zelo verjetno prišlo do mednarodne regulacije kriptovalut.

1. Ponudniki storitev kripto sredstev (CASP) will be regulated similarly to financial institutions. Recognizing cryptocurrency providers as a particular type of financial institution will entail several specialized requirements that businesses must adopt.
Such conditions will include:

• znaten odobreni kapital;
• stroga pravila za zaščito sredstev strank (vključno s pravno odgovornostjo podjetja za izgubo teh sredstev);
• posebne postopke skladnosti kotacije borze kriptovalut;
• vzdrževanje zanesljivih sistemov kibernetske varnosti;
• dober poslovni ugled najvišjega vodstva podjetja;
• redno izobraževanje zaposlenih;
• Zavarovanje direktorjev in uradnikov (D&O) in/ali poklicne odgovornosti (PI);
• preprečevanje praks zlorabe trga (poslano trgovanje, trgovanje z notranjimi informacijami, »črpalke« in »odlagališča« itd.) na platformah za trgovanje s kriptovalutami;
• spoštovanje pravil politike o navzkrižju interesov v zvezi z zaposlenimi in vodstvom CASP;
• redno poročanje izpiskov strankam;
• zapis vseh strankinih transakcij (vključno s posli) v verigi blokov.

2. Cryptocurrencies bo razdeljen na štiri vrste z različnimi pravili, ki veljajo za določeno vrsto žetona:

• stabilni kovanci (imenovani tudi 'žetoni e-denarja') (vezani na eno samo fiat valuto);
• uporabni žetoni (žetoni, izdani za financiranje razvoja kripto projekta, ki se lahko uporabijo tudi za nakup izdelka ali storitve, ki jo ponuja izdajatelj takega žetona);
• žetoni, ki se nanašajo na sredstva (vezani na košarico valut, blaga ali kriptosredstev);
• varnostni žetoni (kriptožetoni, ki nosijo lastnosti vrednostnega instrumenta).

3. Stablecoins will be regulated similar to electronic money, with the requirement for the issuers to hold a certain amount of their own capital, segregate customers’ funds and comply with rules of reserve capital investment (it will be allowed to
allocate such capital only into highly liquid and low-risk assets). There is also a high probability that lawmakers may introduce a maximum cap on the volume of daily transactions using stablecoins (as MiCA already does), since such tokens may very well pose
a threat to national currencies. Such features of stablecoins as low transaction fees, round-the-clock network availability, and absence of bank-like financial monitoring on incoming and outgoing transactions, are all significant advantages over using traditional
fiat money operated via highly regulated financial institutions. This is a risk some national governments already understand, so they started to work on their own digital currencies known as
Digitalne valute centralne banke (CBDC). Bomo videli, kako se bo to rivalstvo razpletlo; vendar pa je skoraj gotovo, da bo v prihodnosti prišlo do regulativnega pritiska na stabilne kovance, zaradi česar bodo manj prožni in likvidni.

4. Varnostni žetoni will be traded on specialized exchanges and fall under similar laws applicable to the offering of securities, including prospectus document requirements and disclosure of corporate information. Most likely that specialized securitization
funds will act as issuing entities for security tokens.

5. Decentralizirane finance (DeFi), Decentralizirana avtonomna organizacija (DAO)
in Nefungibilni žeton (NFT) sektorji will become subject to the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) rules. For now, it is not yet quite clear how in practice these rules will apply to such innovative spheres
of the crypto industry. Nevertheless, European lawmakers have already expressed their intent to apply AML/CFT rules to DAO and DeFi that are controlled directly or indirectly, including through smart contracts or voting protocols. Similar financial monitoring
rules may as well apply to the NFTs as, in most cases, they are indeed traceable on the blockchain, technically allowing for their origin and trades to be monitored.

6. Anonimna kriptovaluta bo veljalo za visoko tvegano sredstvo, ki ga bo težko uporabiti in pretvoriti, saj bo reguliranim platformam za kriptovalute verjetno prepovedano ponujati in trgovati z njimi.

7. Kripto "pravilo potovanja" that requires the cryptocurrency transfer service provider to disclose the cryptocurrency sender’s identity to the cryptocurrency receiver’s service provider, will become a norm almost in every jurisdiction. Only peer-to-peer
transactions from one unhosted wallet (the crypto wallet over which its user maintains complete control) to another unhosted wallet will remain relatively private means of transacting crypto tokens.

As can already be seen from the proposed methods of crypto regulation in the EU, the legislative momentum has been given with quite an understood tone of the proposed rules. National governments will require a certain level of customer interest protection
from cryptocurrency service providers, responsible issuance of crypto tokens (including its effects on the environment from mining mechanisms), and analogous governance for tokenized securities as for the traditional form of this financial instrument. Having
control over stablecoins, which pose threat to a governmental monopoly to control the movement of national currencies, is also one of the essential aspects of the regulatory objectives. AML/CFT rules will be comprehensively applicable, including decentralized
products. The crypto ‘travel rule’ will make it harder for people and companies to interact privately with cryptocurrencies.

All of the above constitute a natural legal adoption of innovative technologies that is required for the industry to make it safer for customers and more controlled for the governments. The cryptocurrency industry may significantly benefit from its widespread
regulation as it will make it less risky and thus more attractive for investment by large institutions and later adopters. An alternative path for the cryptocurrency industry would be a total government ban, prohibition of mining, transaction, service provision,
and any other activity in the industry. However, since this industry has already managed to grow quite successfully, for the national governments it already seems almost impossible to stifle it in the bud. Therefore, for legislators worldwide, the task is
to regulate the cryptocurrency industry rather than fight it.