BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Joan Carette, Philippe De Prez and Thomas Derval, Simont Braun
The tokenisation of real-world assets is not currently regulated in Belgium. 10.5 Regulation of Blockchain Asset Trading Platforms Since 30 December 2024 and the entry into appli - cation of MiCA, crypto-asset trading platforms are regulated as crypto-asset services and can only be offered on the market through a CASP licence. MiCA has completely replaced the Belgian national VASP regime, which has now been reduced to a transitional regime (until June 2026 in Belgium). In addition, EU Regulation 2022/858 of 30 May 2022 on a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology (“DLT Regulation”) allows EEA-based entities to apply for EEA-wide per - mission to operate DLT market infrastructures (DLT multilateral trading facilities, settlement systems, and trading and settlement systems) within a temporary regulatory sandbox regime. The regime has been open to both new and existing market players since March 2023 and specifically targets the trading and settlement of crypto-assets that qualify as financial instruments under MiFID and thus are not captured within the scope of MiCA. Its scope may be expanded in the future, for example to include CASPs, as envis - aged by the European Commission’s ongoing Capital Markets Integration regulatory initiative of 4 December 2025. Lastly, EU Regulation 2023/1113 of 31 May 2023 on information accompanying transfers of funds and cer - tain crypto-assets (TFR), alongside MiCA, includes additional requirements to ensure the traceability of any type of “virtual asset” transfer or transaction. 10.6 Staking Staking services are not regulated in Belgium per se, unless they qualify as crypto-asset services under MiCA (eg, custody and administration of crypto- assets). It should be noted that, according to the Advance Rulings Service ( Service des décisions anticipées/ Dienst Voorafgaande beslissingen – the Belgian tax authority body that issues binding advance tax rulings to taxpayers), income derived from cryptocurrency
staking, harvesting and liquidity mining rewards must be declared and taxed as movable income ( revenus mobiliers/roerende inkomsten ). 10.7 Crypto-Related Lending Lending services relating to cryptocurrencies are not regulated in Belgium, unless they qualify as crypto- asset services under MiCA. 10.8 Cryptocurrency Derivatives Depending on how they are structured, the offering of cryptocurrency derivatives could fall under the Belgian implementation of MiFID II, as well as under the New Prospectus Law and the Prospectus Regulation. Cryptocurrency derivatives are also covered in the fol - lowing two FSMA regulations (as confirmed by royal decree): • the FSMA Regulation of 3 April 2014 prohibits the professional marketing of so-called “non- conventional assets” to retail clients – prohibited non-conventional assets include financial products, the return of which depends directly or indirectly on cryptocurrencies; and • the FSMA Regulation of 26 May 2016 prohibits the distribution of certain financial derivatives among Belgian retail clients, as well as a number of aggressive or inappropriate distribution techniques and forms of professional marketing of derivatives on electronic trading venues. 10.9 Decentralised Finance (DeFi) DeFi is not in scope of MiCA or Belgian regulations. However, MiCA does not clearly explain when a ser - vice is considered to be “decentralised”, leaving some room for interpretation. On 16 January 2025, the ESAs published a report on DeFi with some further insights, but their findings have not provided a conclusive answer on MiCA’s scope. Parties facilitating the trad - ing of security tokens or cryptocurrencies will thus always be subject to a case-by-case analysis by the local regulator. In some cases, they may therefore be required to hold a CASP licence in order to operate. 10.10 Regulation of Funds Funds investing in blockchain technology or crypto- related assets are not subject to a dedicated regulato -
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