LIECHTENSTEIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Christian Inmann and Markus Stelzl, Inmann Stelzl & Partner Attorneys at Law Partnership
Fund Regulation (UCITSG, AIFMG) Entities pooling capital from multiple investors and investing it collectively in accordance with a defined investment policy, with the aim of generating returns for those investors, may be subject to the fund regula - tion. Alongside the alternative investment fund (AIF), as embedded in Liechtenstein law under the AIFMG and the undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) embedded in Liech - tenstein law under the UCITSG, in certain rare cases the Liechtenstein-specific Investment Companies Act (IUG) may also be applicable. Token and Trusted Technology Service Providers Act The TVTG constitutes a distinctive feature of the Liechtenstein legal framework. While often colloquially referred to as the “Blockchain Act”, its primary con - tribution lies in the private law architecture for tokens rather than in public law supervision, which has been largely substituted by the MiCAR regime. The TVTG establishes a comprehensive civil law framework for tokens, including the representation of claims, rights in rem and other legal positions, as well as rules on transfer, acquisition, collateralisation, seg - regation in insolvency and enforceability of custody arrangements via trusted technology systems. As of November 2025, 29 entities were registered under the TVTG, primarily offering token custody and exchange services. Following the full applicabil - ity of MiCAR, TVTG-regulated services may, from 1 July 2026 onwards, only be provided in relation to crypto-assets outside MiCAR’s scope, such as NFTs or genuinely decentralised, operator-free protocols. Nevertheless, the TVTG remains practically relevant where MiCAR deliberately leaves civil law characteri - sation and effects to national law. DLT Pilot Regime The EU DLT Pilot Regime applies in Liechtenstein as part of EEA law. It allows for temporary exemptions from certain MiFID II and CSDR requirements for mar - ket infrastructures using distributed ledger technology to trade and settle tokenised financial instruments. The regime is limited to tokenised financial instru -
If asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) are offered to the public or admitted to trading, the white paper is sub - ject to prior filing with the competent authority. These rules apply in Liechtenstein strictly on the basis of the MiCAR text as incorporated into EEA law. Crypto-asset services and CASP authorisation MiCAR also governs the provision of crypto-asset ser - vices. Crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) must be authorised either under MiCAR itself pursuant to Article 62 MiCAR or, in the case of credit institutions, may provide MiCAR services under the simplified pro - cedure pursuant to Article 60 MiCAR. CASPs must have their registered office and place of effective management within the EEA and conduct at least part of their crypto-asset services business there. At least one member of the management body must be resident in the EEA. All CASPs are subject to general conduct-of-business obligations, including the duty to act honestly, fairly and professionally in the best interests of clients. In addition, service-specific requirements apply, for example in relation to custody, record-keeping and segregation of client assets. Market abuse regime for crypto-assets MiCAR introduces a market abuse regime tailored to crypto-asset markets. This includes obligations to dis - close inside information, prohibitions of insider deal - ing and unlawful disclosure of inside information, and prohibitions of market manipulation. These provisions apply in Liechtenstein as part of directly applicable EEA law. MiFID II and Securities Regulation Where a tokenised asset qualifies as a financial instru - ment (such as shares, bonds or other transferable securities) the MiFID II regime and the prospectus regulation apply. Under this regime, issuers and service providers may be subject to licensing requirements as invest - ment firms or trading venues, prospectus obliga - tions, organisational and conduct-of-business rules, and ongoing supervision by the FMA. The decisive criterion is the legal and economic substance of the tokenised asset, not its technological form.
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