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Crypto custody providers as well as operators of crypto security registries enjoy generous exemptions, especially with regards to the regulatory capital requirements. But are these exemptions still applicable, if a crypto custody service provider additionally acts as a crypto securities registry operator?

The participation in economic life is steadily being digitalized and that even prior to the outbreak of the current pandemic. An increasing number of everyday contracts is entered into via the internet. Consumers that enter into contracts with entrepreneurs via the internet are generally entitled to a legal right of revocation versus the entrepreneur under […]

The Electronic Securities Act (eWPG) went into effect in June of 2021. According to the unambiguous intention of the legislator, the eWPG relates solely to unsecuritised bearer bonds and it is in its current iteration intended as somewhat of a test for the possible introduction of other unsecuritised financial instruments such as e.g. electronic stocks. […]

In almost no other field the EU Commission is as active as in the field of regulation of the combat against money-laundering and terrorism financing. The fourth Anti-Money-Laundering Directive had only been released in 2015 and had to be transposed by the member states until the 26th of June 2017. Even prior to the expiration of […]

The rising interest in cryptocurrencies, especially of professional investors and the steadily growing acceptance of tokenized investment products on the capital markets prompted the German legislator to introduce crypto securities as a new sub-type of securities. These are a special form of electronic bearer bonds which do not require securitization in a paper document. With […]

In 2018, the first first piece of codified regulation regarding blockchain and DLT units was introduced in the European Union with the creation of the so-called fifth Anti-Money-Laundering Directive. Since then, virtual currencies are defined by the European AML regulation as a digital representation of value that is not issued or guaranteed by a central […]

There are not only electronic securities but also crypto securities since the Act on Electronic Securities (eWpG) went into effect on the 10th of June 2021. According to the legal definition, the term also includes unsecured electronic bearer bonds which are registered in a crypto security register. The legislator simultaneously turned the operation of such […]

The Electronic Securities Act (eWPG) came into effect on the 10th of June 2021 in Germany. Since then, businesses have the opportunity to issue bonds in the form of electronic securities. A special form of electronic securities are crypto securities, which are electronic securities that are registered in a crypto security registry. However, the eWPG […]

Holders of crypto assets that are suitable for the so-called delegated staking may delegate their crypto assets to a staking provider in order to participate in the underlying consensus mechanism for the validation of transactions in the network. The rewards for the abovementioned participation are newly issued blockchain units, which are generated and issued by […]

Most probably the German legislator did not expect the following when introducing crypto assets as financial instruments: On the 9th of June 2021, the small Latin American country of El Salvador passed a new legislation that will declare Bitcoin its unrestricted, domestic legal tender. As of the new legislation will come into effect, payments made […]

On the 26th of June 2021, the new supervisory regime for investment firms – the Investment Firms Act (WpIG) – will go into effect in Germany. The new regulation will be relevant for all businesses which offer financial services such as investment brokerage, investment advisory services, proprietary trading or financial portfolio management and comparable services. […]