3 QUESTIONS: The AMF clarifies the regime for digital asset services providers (DASPs)
La Semaine Juridique Entreprise et Affaires – 22.10.2020
Alexandre Lourimi and William O’Rorke published, for La Semaine Juridique – Entreprise et Affaires, a “3 Questions” on the input from the Q&A published by the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) aiming to detail its expectations in the context of the mandatory registration and optional license procedures for digital asset service providers (DASPs).
Following a previous article published for Village de la Justice, the authors provide some answers to the following three questions:
- How was the first year of application of the PSAN regime?
They point out that, after nearly a year of application, only five digital asset service providers are registered with the AMF, none of which have been licensed for the time being. This low number can be explained by difficulties in interpreting the requirements of the regime, but above all by the 12-month grace period granted to existing DASPs to register.
- What are the AMF’s main responses?
They note that the Q&A clarify the material scope of the regime, with the qualification of stablecoins being clarified with regard to the definitions of digital assets and emoney, as well as its territorial scope, and the conditions under which foreign DASPs must register in France (physical presence in France, .fr domain name, advertising aimed at France, etc.).
- What are the main outstanding questions?
They note that the AMF’s clarifications raise difficulties, particularly with regard to the scope of the beneficiaries of the 12-month grace period and the condition imposed as part of the mandatory registration procedure, in keeping with ACPR’s strongly disputed position that collection on behalf of third parties constitutes a payment service whose provision is prohibited for companies that do not have a payment service provider (PSP) licence.
