Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) which is France’s independent regulatory body gave statements on Thursday (22nd February 2018) on initial coin offerings (ICOs) the vision of Bitcoin derivatives. Both point towards the upcoming guidelines for crypto in France, including everything from official authorizations to a prohibition on advertisements.
The market regulator of France claims that Bitcoin derivatives are subject to the European MiFID II (European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) which prompts all the new rules & authorizations. On Thursday, the notification was published and it disclosed that regulatory body considers that the proposal of cryptocurrency derivatives requires authorization & it is banned to endorse such tender through electronic means. The regulatory body has reached the conclusion that platforms which offer these products must abide by the agreement and business conduct rules and that these products should not be promoted via electronic means.
During the analysis regulatory body of France determined the official prerequisite of the idea of “derivative” in the cryptocurrency derivatives context … and to consider whether a cryptocurrency could be officially considered as a qualified principal. The concept of a derivative is not defined in European legislation per se.
AMF Also Takes A Hard Look At ICOs
The AMF published the summary of responses to the public discussion on initial coin offerings (ICO) and it was also disclosed on the same day, summarizing 82 remarks from the French public related to ICOs and their regulatory outcomes.
According to the organization, “Majority of respondents showed their support for setting up a proper official outline for this new kind of fundraising.” Respondents were finance professionals, digital economy players, market infrastructures, academics individuals & law firms.
The AMF presented three preferences for consideration going forward:
Promote the best practice guide without altering the existing legislation.
Extend the scope of existing texts to treat ICOs as public offerings of securities.
Propose new legislation adapted to ICOs.
Out of those, third preference received 66% approval.
The people who responded commonly believe that an information document is compulsory to notify buyers of tokens and should cover project specifications, rights, distribution scheme, along with recognizing the project leaders & team. Finally, the vast majority of people favored the establishment of regulations & made it possible to make sure the escrow of resources raised & the setting up of a method to avoid terrorist financing and money laundering. In response, the AMF spokesperson has promised to continue to work on the vision of regulating ICOs.
Ricky Makan is a venture capitalist and Crypto Enthusiast best known for pioneering the market for Digital Marketing. He is a Co-founder of Unkrypted, a platform which provides the latest news and information that helps understand everything about the ever-evolving world of digital currencies.