The European securities and market authority (ESMA), EU’s main financial market regulator, has launched one consultation on guidelines for assessing the knowledge and competence of Crypto-Asset service providers (CASPS) personnel.
ESMA is looking for feedback from stakeholders and market participants on the minimum requirements for digital asset sector personnel who provide advice to customers and investors.
“The guidelines are aimed at ensuring that staff provide information or advice on crypto assets or crypto access services have a minimum level of knowledge and competence, which improves investors’ protection and confidence in the crypto asset markets,” ESMA said when announcement The consultation on February 17.
The move is intended to bring companies for digital asset sector and their personnel in accordance with EU markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (Mica), which was published in June 2023 and came fully on December 30, 2024.
“Crypto resources and crypto access services are increasingly accessible to EU-Detail Investors,” said consultation. “However, it seems that the knowledge of market participants, especially retail investors, about crypto resources and the related services still seems to be limited.”
For this reason, the controller argued, the CASP staff must maintain an appropriate level of knowledge to fulfill their obligations specified under micaFor example, the requirement to act in the best of the clients.
The staff must understand the most important functions and risks of digital assets – such as market vollatility and cyber security—We familiar with Blockchain technologyAnd know about regulations and tax consequences.
“Special caution should be taken when providing information with respect to risks related to the crypto resources characterized by higher levels of complexity and volatility,” read the paper without elaborating exactly to which crypto resources this refers to.
It also proposed minimum qualifications for digital asset staff, including previous experience, continued professional development and a degree in a related area.
ESMA suggested that these new requirements were assessed “at least on an annual basis” to review the efficiency of the policies and procedures.
The controller is looking for feedback on these various proposals until April 22. Based on the received effort, Esma said it would prepare a final report on the guidelines to be submitted to the European Commission – the EU executive arm – during the third quarter of 2025.
Watch: Reggie Middleton at Defi, Booms/Busts & Crypto Regulation
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