The European regulator publishes a second consultation on MCA

The European Union Markets Regulator (ESMA) issued a second consultation paper on the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Directive on 5 October.

In the 307-page document, ESMA seeks stakeholder comments on five areas of MiCA, including sustainability indicators for distributed ledgers, disclosure of insider information, technical requirements for white papers, trade transparency measures and record keeping for crypto-asset services. Providers (CASPs).

Among the sustainability indicators, the authority counts quantitative measures on energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and waste production, along with a qualitative description of the impact of device use on natural resources by blockchain network nodes.

With regard to post-trade transparency, ESMA proposes to report trade and publication date and time, crypto-asset identification, pricing information, quantity, execution location and transaction ID.

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ESMA also suggests allowing CASPs to store transaction data “in the format they deem most appropriate”, if the authorities can convert it to the specified format if requested.

The regulator will publish a final report based on the comments received and submit the draft technical standards to the European Commission by June 30, 2024. However, before that, it will also publish a third consultation package in Q1 2024.

ESMA published its previous consultation paper in July. In it, ESMA proposed to require that crypto companies registering under MiCA still submit additional information in the form of a notification to the national authorities of the country in which they are registered.