The European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) have published a Consultation Paper on two draft Joint Guidelines. The guidelines cover the suitability assessment of members of the management body and suitability of shareholders and members with qualifying holdings of issuers of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) and of crypto-asset service providers (CASPs).

The guidance is set to provide clarity and harmonisation with respect to the criteria to assess the suitability of the management body, the shareholders and members with qualifying holdings, thus reducing the risk of arbitrage in the application of the rules. According to the official press release, the consultation runs until 22 January 2024. To foster and protect the integrity of the market in crypto assets and related services and to promote trust, it is important to ensure that the members of the management body of issuers of ARTs and CASPs as well as the persons that hold or wish to acquire qualifying holdings in them are suitable.

The draft Joint Guidelines on the suitability assessment of the members of the management body of issuers of ARTs and CASPs provide common criteria to assess the appropriate knowledge, skills and experience of members of the management body as well as their good repute, honesty, and integrity and if they are able to commit sufficient time to perform their duties. Consultation process Comments to this consultation can be sent to the EBA by visiting the consultation page;  The deadline for the submission of comments is 22 January 2024;  The EBA will inform ESMA of all the comments received. All received contributions will be published at the end of the consultation unless requested otherwise.

Background information regarding the joint guidelines The EBA and ESMA have received two joint mandates under MiCA to issue guidelines. The first one is on the assessment of the suitability of the members of the management body of issuers of ARTs and of the shareholders and members, whether direct or indirect, that have qualifying holdings in issuers of ARTs in accordance with Article 21(3). The second guideline is on the assessment of the suitability of the members of the management body of the CASP and of the shareholders or members, whether direct or indirect, that have qualifying holdings in the CASP in accordance with Article 63(11).

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