Fintech 2026

FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Olli Kiuru, Jere Lehtimäki and Essi Hietaoja, Waselius

10.4 Regulation of “Issuers” of Blockchain Assets The issue, public offer and seeking admission to trad - ing of blockchain assets are subject to MiCAR. Issuing a crypto-asset means, in practice, creating a new crypto-asset. Issuing ARTs and EMTs requires authorisation from the FIN-FSA. Furthermore, as EMTs are deemed to be electronic money, they may only be issued by authorised credit institutions or electronic money institutions. An issuer of ARTs and EMTs usu - ally also acts as an offeror to the public or as a person seeking admission to trading, which requires publish - ing a crypto-asset white paper, namely an informa - tion document containing mandatory disclosures. However, offering to the public or seeking admission to trading of ARTs and EMTs does not require authori - sation if the offeror or the person seeking admission to trading is a different person from the issuer. Offering to the public or seeking admission to trading of ARTs or EMTs on behalf of the issuer requires the written con - sent of the issuer. Regardless of such an arrangement, the issuer of the ART or EMT retains the obligation to draw up a crypto-asset white paper. Issuance, offering to the public or seeking admission to trading of crypto-assets other than ARTs and EMTs does not require authorisation. However, MiCAR con - tains some other requirements for public offerors and persons seeking admission to trading of these crypto- assets. The main requirement is the obligation to draw up a crypto-asset white paper. As described in 10.3 Classification of Blockchain Assets , the regulation of initial sales depends on how the blockchain assets are classified. When the issued crypto-asset qualifies as a financial instrument as defined in MiFID II, Finnish securities laws apply to the offer instead. In such cases, the issuer must comply with securities legislation, including the obli - gation to publish a prospectus approved by the FIN- FSA before offering the securities to the public. The legal landscape for tokenisation of real-world assets in Finland is uncertain as the classification of assets is unclear. Owing to this uncertainty, the Finnish tokeni - sation market remains undeveloped.

visions to be included in the contractual arrangements between financial entities and ICT third-party service providers. According to DORA, when negotiating contractual arrangements, financial entities and ICT third-party service providers shall consider the use of standard contractual clauses developed by public authorities for specific services. 10. Blockchain 10.1 Use of Blockchain in the Financial Services Industry The traditional players have not been eager to imple - ment blockchain in their services or product offering. However, the fintech labs of some major players are investigating new opportunities with blockchain tech - nologies. 10.2 Local Regulators’ Approach to Blockchain The local regulators have not been active in introduc - ing regulation in this area. 10.3 Classification of Blockchain Assets Under Finnish law, crypto-assets are classified in accordance with MiCAR. Blockchain-based assets are generally treated as crypto-assets that are either asset-referenced tokens (ARTs), electronic money tokens (EMTs) or crypto-assets other than ARTs or EMTs. Crypto-assets are not automatically categorised as financial instruments or securities; their classifica - tion depends instated on their specific characteris - tics. A blockchain asset may be deemed a financial instrument or security based on its nature, requiring a case-by-case analysis. This analysis considers that securities market legislation is technology-neutral. For example, the FIN-FSA uses a set of questions to eval - uate whether a crypto-asset qualifies as a security. If crypto-assets are deemed financial instruments/ securities, they fall outside the scope of MiCAR and are instead governed by other EU legislation applica - ble to financial instruments/securities.

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