ROMANIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Alexandru Stanescu, Simina Negulescu, Stefan Gheorghe and Ioana Vișan, Lexters
Key features for an operator planning to seek authori- sation include the following. • Predictable timelines for regulated entities: credit institutions, payment institutions and electronic money institutions wishing to add crypto-asset activities follow a structured dual-clearance pro- cess with defined deadlines. The BNR’s preliminary prudential assessment runs within 30 days of a complete file, with final approval issued within four months of the ASF’s confirmation. • Clear and objective authorisation conditions: eligibility criteria – no outstanding tax obligations, clean fiscal record for the entity, shareholders and management – are transparent and leave limited room for administrative discretion. • Simplified judicial review: challenges to ASF deci- sions go directly to the Bucharest Court of Appeal, bypassing the standard administrative pre-litigation procedure, offering a faster and more predictable route for dispute resolution. • Secondary legislation within 30 days: the ASF and BNR are required to issue implementing regula- tions within 30 days of the GEO entering into force, meaning the detailed authorisation procedure will follow promptly. Early engagement with the ASF ahead of that publication is advisable for any crypto-asset service provider (CASP) planning to apply. Reverse solicitation under Article 61 of MiCA is inter- preted narrowly in 2026. ESMA’s December 2024 statement and the EBA’s 2026 guidance confirm the exemption covers only services genuinely initiated by the client on a one-off basis, and cannot support a market-entry strategy built on Romanian-language marketing, local influencers or targeted SEO. The workable route for non-EU groups is authorisation in Romania (or another member state with passporting), not the exemption. MiCA Transitional Regime in Romania The MiCA transitional regime ends on 1 July 2026. From that date, providing crypto-asset services in Romania without authorisation constitutes a criminal offence under the MiCA GEO Draft.
No crypto-asset may be offered to the public or admit- ted to trading unless a white paper and a legal expla- nation have been notified to the competent authority at least 20 working days before publication. Under the MiCA GEO Draft, the ASF is the competent authority for white paper notifications relating to other crypto- assets and ARTs, while the BNR handles EMT notifi- cations submitted by credit institutions and electronic money institutions under its prudential supervision. AML Obligations for CASPs in Romania Upon implementation of Government Emergency Ordinance No 10/2025, which aligned Romanian AML legislation with MiCA, crypto-asset businesses in Romania became obliged entities under the national framework on preventing and combating money laun- dering and terrorist financing. As of now, the ASF is the primary AML supervisor for crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) (other than credit institutions or electronic money institutions, which remain under the BNR), alongside the National Office for Prevention and Control of Money Launder- ing (ONPCSB) as the financial intelligence unit. For AML purposes in Romania, CASPs are treated as financial institutions and must implement: • customer due diligence; • ongoing monitoring; • suspicious transaction reporting; • sanctions screening; and • outsourcing controls. The next step is the 2024 AML package, consisting of the AMLR, directly applicable from 10 July 2027, and the Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD6), which shall be transposed by the same date. Together, they create a fully harmonised EU AML framework, with the AMLR setting out the substantive rulebook and AMLD6 governing the institutional architecture. Beyond CASPs, the AMLR brings several categories of entities within scope for the first time, including, but not limited to, crowdfunding service providers and real estate intermediaries acting in high-value rental transactions.
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