Ireland: Securities-Related Laws

No blockchain is legal tender in Europe, including Ireland.

If an ICO falls under securities regulation this document details the ergulations that it may have to comply with, as listed below.

  • The Prospectus Directive: the securities token will subject to publication of a prospectus which must be approved before the token can be offered.
  • The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID): if the firm 1) provides services to clients around financial instruments 2) the organized trading of financial instruments, it will be subject to MiFID regulations. The MiFID is a large suite of regulations designed to protect investors in financial markets. A detailed summary of MiFID requirements can be found here. It is recommend to consult with a lawyer if your firm’s activities seem to fall under MiFID’s regulation.
  • Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive: “The Directive requires firms to carry out due diligence on customers and to have in place appropriate record-keeping and other internal procedures. Firms have an obligation to report any suspicious activity and to co-operate with any investigations by relevant public authorities.”
  • Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive: This directive regulates alternative investment fund managers. A small number of blockchain projects may be considered alternative investment funds. If this applies to your firm, see this source for detail on the regulations.

Sources:

Previous Section Next Section

Have a comment, edit, or item to add? Share your thoughts by commenting below!

comments powered by Disqus

NEO