Innovation through regulation: A comprehensive regulatory framework for blockchain-based services and products

Antonio Giannino, Damiano Di Maio and Andrea Vianelli
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Antonio Giannino: Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, Amagis Capital, Malta
Damiano Di Maio: Associate, Financial Regulation, Nunziante Magrone, Italy
Andrea Vianelli: Head of Legal and Regulatory Compliance, Amagis Capital, Malta

Journal of Financial Compliance, 2019, vol. 3, issue 2, 147-157

Abstract: This paper analyses the regulatory approach currently adopted both at European Union (EU) level (in particular, making reference to the guidelines, opinions and consultations issued by the European Supervisory Authorities [ESAs]), and at national level, focusing on the sole jurisdiction, which, so far, has created a bespoke regime for distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based services and/or products. After having briefly outlined the concept of DLT and crypto-assets and their potential applications within the financial services industry, this paper looks at the current approach developed by the ESAs with respect to DLT-based services and products. The paper then focuses focus on the recent framework introduced by Malta, the first EU jurisdiction regulating DLT-based services and products in a comprehensive manner. In particular, this paper analyses, adopting a pragmatic approach, the main features of the aforesaid bespoke regime. In conclusion the paper analyses whether a harmonised approach, adopted at EU level, should be preferred to a series of nation-wide regimes, which, given the cross-national nature of financial services, might lead to harmful regulatory arbitrage across the continent.

Keywords: blockchain; regulation; FinTech; RegTech; crypto; virtual financial assets; security token offering; STO; initial coin offering; ICO (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E5 G2 K2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aza:jfc000:y:2019:v:3:i:2:p:147-157

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