Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation: Law and Technology

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Authors:

Edited by Matthias Haentjens, Louise Gullifer, and Ilya Kokorin

• ISBN: 9781509970407
• Published: November 2025
• Format: Hardback
• Language: English

• Publisher: Hart Publishing

Description:

This book offers a systematic, article-by-article commentary on the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR), a landmark framework that now governs crypto-assets and crypto-asset services across the European Union. It explains how MiCAR interacts with existing instruments such as MiFID II, the Prospectus Regulation, the Crowdfunding Regulation and the Market Abuse Regulation, while also engaging with recent market events including the collapses of FTX and Celsius and parallel initiatives in the UK and USA.

Written by leading experts in financial law, regulation and technology, the volume gives readers a practical roadmap through MiCAR’s core concepts, scope and definitions, and shows how the regulation is reshaping the legal environment for crypto-asset issuers, service providers and supervisors.

Key Features:

– Comprehensive commentary on MiCAR, including its goals, structure and key concepts.
– Analysis of the regulatory treatment of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs), e-money tokens (EMTs) and other crypto-assets.
– Detailed examination of authorisation, conduct of business rules and prudential requirements for crypto-asset service providers (CASPs).
– Discussion of market abuse in crypto-asset markets and the extension of EU market integrity standards to this new asset class.
– Comparative insights on crypto-asset regulation in the UK and USA, and the interaction between MiCAR and global soft-law standards.
– Written by academics, practitioners and regulators with first-hand expertise in EU financial regulation and digital finance.

Coverage:

The book covers the full lifecycle of crypto-assets under MiCAR, including:

– Background, goals and structure of MiCAR, and its place within the EU Digital Finance Strategy.
– Scope and key terms, including the typology of crypto-assets and the distinction between ARTs, EMTs and other tokens.
– Rules on offers to the public and admission to trading of crypto-assets other than ARTs and EMTs.
– Special regimes for issuers of ARTs and EMTs, including white papers, governance, reserve assets and redemption rights.
– Regulation of crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), including licensing, organisational requirements, custody, trading platforms and transfer services.
– Significant ARTs, EMTs and CASPs and their enhanced requirements.
– Market abuse rules as applied to crypto-assets, including insider dealing, unlawful disclosure and market manipulation.
– The role and powers of national competent authorities, the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
– Excluded topics, remaining gaps and potential future regulatory developments.

About the Authors:

The volume is edited by:

– Matthias Haentjens, Professor of Financial Law at Leiden University (the Netherlands), a leading scholar on EU financial markets and banking regulation.
– Dame Louise Gullifer, Professor of Law at the University of Cambridge (UK), renowned for her work on commercial, financial and security law.
– Ilya Kokorin, Assistant Professor at Leiden University (the Netherlands), whose research focuses on insolvency, restructuring and the regulation of digital assets.

The contributing authors include experts from universities, law firms, central banks and supervisory authorities across Europe and beyond. Together they bring a rich combination of doctrinal analysis, policy insight and practical experience in the supervision of financial markets and digital assets.

Table of Contents:

• 1. Introduction – Matthias Haentjens, Louise Gullifer and Ilya Kokorin
• 2. Background, Goals and Structure – Ilya Kokorin
• 3. Scope and Key Terms – Philipp Paech
• 4. Typology of Crypto-assets – Philipp Paech
• 5. Offer and Admission to Trading of Crypto-assets other than ARTs and EMTs – Heikki Marjosola and Marika Salo-Lahti
• 6. Regulation of ARTs and EMTs, and their Issuers – Philipp Maume
• 7. Regulation of Crypto-asset Service Providers and Crypto-asset Services – Ilya Kokorin and Bart Joosen
• 8. Significant ARTs, EMTs and CASPs – Marisa Machacek
• 9. Crypto-assets and Market Abuse – Nick Campuzano and Rogier Raas
• 10. Role and Powers of National Competent Authorities, EBA and ESMA – Elisabeth Noble
• 11. Excluded Topics and Future Regulation – Lodewijk van Setten
• 12. Crypto-Regulation in the UK – Simon Gleeson
• 13. Crypto-Regulation in the USA – Carla L Reyes and Drew M Hinkes
• 14. Conclusion – Matthias Haentjens, Louise Gullifer and Ilya Kokorin

Why buy this book?

MiCAR has moved from proposal to fully applicable regulation, creating a single, harmonised framework for crypto-assets across the EU. For lawyers, regulators, compliance teams and market participants, understanding its detail is now a practical necessity rather than an academic luxury. This book provides the depth needed to interpret MiCAR provisions, anticipate supervisory expectations and design compliant products and services.

For financial institutions and new entrants, it helps translate dense legal text into operational guidance. For academics and students, it offers a reliable starting point for research on the intersection of financial regulation, technology and digital assets. For policymakers and supervisors, it gathers expert perspectives on remaining gaps and likely future reforms. If your work touches crypto-assets, stablecoins, CASPs or the digital finance agenda in Europe, this is a reference work you will return to repeatedly.

Keywords:

Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, MiCAR, crypto-assets, digital assets, stablecoins, asset-referenced tokens, e-money tokens, CASPs, blockchain law, EU financial regulation, MiFID II, market abuse, fintech, digital finance strategy

Target Audience:

Financial lawyers, in-house counsel, compliance officers, regulators, supervisors, central bank staff, policy makers, academics, postgraduate students, crypto-asset exchanges, wallet providers, stablecoin issuers, fintech consultants

Genre:

Law, banking and finance, financial regulation, blockchain and cryptocurrency, EU law, professional reference

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