On 17th October 2024, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) announced that as of that date, it would no longer accept new applications for the registration of Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) in view of Cyprus’ preparations for the MICAR which is expected to become applicable to CASPs on the 30th of December 2024. With regards to the issuers of Asset Reference Tokens (ARTs) and E-Money Tokens (EMTs), MiCAR has already been applied on 30 June 2024.
CASPs that will be registered in the CASP Register before 30 December 2024, Article 143(3) of MiCAR sets a transitional period according to which they will continue to provide their services until 1 July 2026 or until they are granted or refused an authorization pursuant to Article 63, whichever is sooner.
Moreover, CySEC announced the deadline until which it will accept notifications from EEA-based CASPs currently operating in the Republic of Cyprus which is set to be the 30th of October 2024. Those who submit the notification within the deadline, shall be entitled to continue providing their services on a cross-border basis in the Republic of Cyprus during the transitional period.
CySEC invites interested entities that intend to provide crypto-asset services to refer to the Draft Technical Standards issued by European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), to streamline the process by preparing their applications in advance, should they wish. From CySEC’s side, the application documents pursuant to Article 62(1) of MiCAR, will be published once the European Commission issues the Regulatory and Implementing Technical Standards.
CySEC’s announcements in relation to the subject matter can be found in the links below:
https://www.cysec.gov.cy/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=852549ba-eb8e-434b-ac6b-cee841e17a07
https://www.cysec.gov.cy/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=3cb224b2-4044-40a2-968b-72cf5925f6a9
Please feel free to contact our Team directly for more information or assistance you may need.
Author: Elli Ioannou – Head of Corporate Department
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