ROMANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Alexandru Stanescu, Simina Negulescu, Anca Popan and Mihai-Cristian Huială, Lexters
6. Payments and Stablecoins 6.1 Payments
arise from the regulated activity, not from the tech- nology, and a CASP, payment institution, electronic money institution, investment firm, fund manager or crowdfunding service provider will be subject to the relevant prudential and licensing regime. 5.3 Liability Accountability and liability in Romanian DeFi matters are assessed under general law, as Romanian courts and regulators have not yet developed a significant body of DeFi-specific case law. The main categories
Crypto-Asset Payments and Settlement Models Payments in crypto-assets are permitted in Romania. Crypto-assets are not legal tender, but parties are free to agree on crypto-asset settlement under contractual autonomy, and both direct wallet-to-wallet settlement and card or merchant-acquiring models are available. Tax, accounting, AML and consumer protection con- siderations are addressed in 1.2.4 Tax , 2.1 Regulators and International Alignment and 4.1 Marketing . Many merchants opt for conversion into RON or another fiat currency through a regulated intermediary, which simplifies accounting, valuation and refund han- dling. Direct wallet-to-wallet settlement is also pos- sible and may be preferable in B2B or cross-border contexts, provided refund mechanics, record-keeping and valuation are addressed contractually. Where the model involves payment services or electronic money, the payment services and EMT requirements below apply. Payment Services Law Payment services law must be considered whenever the provider executes payment transactions, issues payment instruments, provides payment accounts, remits money or initiates payments. Law No 209/2019 transposes Directive (EU) 2015/2366 on payment ser- vices in the internal market (PSD2) in Romania and prohibits unauthorised professional provision of pay- ment services. EMT Services and PSD2 Interplay The EBA’s opinion on the interplay between PSD2 and MiCA is especially important for EMTs. The EBA advised national authorities to treat certain EMT trans- fers and custodial wallet arrangements as payment services requiring PSD2 authorisation or a partnership with an authorised payment service provider. It also advised that exchange of crypto-assets for funds or other crypto-assets should not, by itself, be treated as a payment service. From 2 March 2026, CASPs carrying out EMT services that qualify as payment services must hold payment institution or electronic money institution authorisa-
of liability are: • contractual; • tort; • consumer protection; • product and digital services; • directors’ liability; and • in serious cases, criminal liability.
A developer is not automatically liable for every loss suffered by users of open-source software. However, liability becomes more plausible where the developer operates the front end, markets the product, controls upgrades, receives fees, manages the treasury, makes misleading statements or knows of a material vulner- ability and fails to act. Promoters and founders may also be liable where they create an investment expectation, conceal risks or misrepresent decentralisation. Governance token- holders are less likely to be liable merely because they vote, but repeated active control over business deci- sions can change the analysis. The practical recommendation is to map accountabil- ity before launch. Projects should decide who con- tracts with users, who controls keys, who can upgrade the protocol, who receives fees, who handles com- plaints, who conducts AML checks and who can stop the system in an emergency.
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