Fintech 2026

CZECH REPUBLIC Law and Practice Contributed by: Stanislav Šimek, Vojtěch Mlynář and Jakub Dostál, BADOKH

• Regulated markets – the most stringently regu - lated, may only be operated by an organiser of a regulated market holding a CNB licence. • Multilateral trading facilities – these have fewer rules on admitting instruments to trading and lighter disclosure obligations for issuers. They can be operated by an organiser of a regulated market, an investment firm or an equivalent EU entity. • Organised trading facilities – these are restricted to trading bonds, structured finance products, emis - sion allowances and derivatives. They require CNB authorisation. A platform may seek authorisation under the EU DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) Pilot Regime, which permits trading and settlement of tokenised securities and grants certain regulatory accommodations, such as direct retail investor access. The CNB has granted such authorisation to the Czech Central Securities Depository. Crypto-assets regulated under MiCA can be traded on exchanges holding a crypto-asset service provider licence issued by the CNB. Crypto-assets outside the scope of MiCA that are not financial instruments (eg, some non-fungible tokens) can be traded on platforms authorised by the FAU. 6.2 Regulation of Different Asset Classes Different asset classes are subject to distinct regula - tory regimes depending on their classification. Financial Instruments and Security Tokens Financial instruments and security tokens are regu - lated under the MiFID II/CMUA framework. Issuers face prospectus requirements, ongoing disclosure obligations and market abuse rules. Firms dealing in financial instruments must hold a licence from the CNB, unless exempt. Crypto-Assets Crypto-assets that do not qualify as financial instru - ments and fall within the MiCA taxonomy (asset- referenced tokens, e-money tokens and other cryp - to-assets) are regulated under MiCA. Issuers must publish a crypto-asset white paper and, for certain token types, obtain CNB authorisation.

Crypto-assets that do not fall under MiCA and are not financial instruments (eg, non-fungible tokens) fall outside the scope of both MiCA and MiFID II/CMUA. However, certain services relating to non-fungible tokens may still trigger obligations under the Czech AML Act. 6.3 Impact of the Emergence of Cryptocurrency Exchanges The emergence of cryptocurrency exchanges prompt - ed regulatory intervention at the EU level through MiCA, followed by the Czech Act on the Digitalisation of Financial Services. Centralised exchanges operating in the EU must obtain a crypto-asset service provider licence (which in Czechia is granted by the CNB) and must com - ply with requirements covering governance, capital adequacy, custody of client assets, and integrity. Czechia has gone a step further and retained a licens - ing regime under the AML Act for virtual asset ser - vice providers, including exchanges, that fall outside MiCA’s scope. Security tokens that qualify as financial instruments must be traded on venues authorised under the MiFID II/CMUA framework, in the same manner as traditional financial instruments. Decentralised exchanges may fall outside MiCA’s scope if they are fully decentralised and operate with - out any intermediary. In practice, it is questionable whether any exchange will genuinely satisfy this con - dition and the regulatory treatment of decentralised exchanges remains an evolving area. 6.4 Listing Standards Financial Instruments (MiFID II/CMUA) Listing obligations for financial instruments are gov - erned by MiFID II/CMUA and further defined by venue operators. Admission to a regulated market requires the issuer to publish an approved prospectus (unless exempted), to meet minimum market capitalisation thresholds and to comply with disclosure obligations. Multilateral and organised trading facilities operate under lighter admission requirements, with standards largely set by the operator.

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