European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) has set out to recognize the Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) as financial securities. They are still in the process of determining if ICOs should be regulated like other securities sales.
Steven Maijoor, ESMA’s chair has stated that the features of some ICOs match that of a financial instrument and hence the authority is in the process of figuring out a suitable framework for the ICOs that fit the “financial instrument” category. They will release a report regarding the same by 2019 along with advice for financial institutions, consumers, and market participants.
Maijoor stated, “The subsequent question is what do we do with those ICOs that are outside the regulatory world. We will assess that as a board. We expect to report by the end of the year.”
It was recently reported that Europe has budgeted €1.1 million for activities related to financial innovation that includes cryptocurrencies as well to integrate and grow with the technical developments in the financial front.