LITHUANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Donatas Šliora and Marius Matiukas, ADON legal
in the system and in accordance with its non- discretionary rules – in a way that results in a contract, in respect of the financial instruments admitted to trading under its rules and/or sys - tems, and which is authorised and functions regularly. Presently, there is only one regulated market operator licensed in Lithuania – AB Nas - daq Vilnius. The MTF is a multilateral system, operated by an investment firm or a market operator, which brings together multiple third-party buying and selling interests in financial instruments – in the system and in accordance with non-discretion - ary rules – in a way that results in a contract. The main MTF acting in Lithuania is First North. An OTF means a multilateral system that is not a regulated market or an MTF, and in which mul - tiple third-party buying and selling interests in bonds, structured finance products, emission allowances or derivatives are able to interact in the system in a way that results in a contract. There are no licensed OTF operators in Lithu - ania. Following the entry into force of MiCA, the oper - ation of a trading platform for crypto-assets is considered a crypto-asset service requiring a licence under MiCA. 6.2 Regulation of Different Asset Classes For platforms trading in financial instruments – including crypto-assets that are financial instru - ments – generally the same regulatory regime is applicable; however, there are certain differenc - es depending on the type of platform (regulated market, MTF, OTF). Types of financial instruments that may be listed in OTFs are limited to bonds, structured finance products, emission allowances or derivatives.
MiCA is applicable for crypto-assets that are not considered financial instruments, and operation of a trading platform requires a licence under MiCA. 6.3 Impact of the Emergence of Cryptocurrency Exchanges The long-standing position of the Bank of Lithua - nia (applicable until the implementation of MiCA) was that licensed financial service providers (including operators of regulated markets and investment firms) should not be involved in cryp - to-asset-related activities; thus, crypto-assets were not traded in regulated markets, MTFs or OTFs. However, in practice, some methods of co-operation with CASPs existed to facilitate the needs of clients to invest in crypto-assets. Fol - lowing MiCA, the Bank of Lithuania should be more flexible; however, the exact scope of toler - ance for combining CASPs and other financial services is yet to be seen. Until the implementation of MiCA, trading in crypto-assets did not fall under financial ser - vice regulations (generally, with the exception of AML/CFT compliance). The relative ease of obtaining CASP registration under the national regime (prior to the implementation of MiCA) made Lithuania a key hub for CASPs in the EU. Lithuania has chosen an extremely short tran - sitional period for provision of CASP services without the MiCA licence, which will expire on 1 June 2025. 6.4 Listing Standards The Law on Markets in Financial Instruments requires that rules for admission to regulated markets be clear and transparent. Such rules are subject to prior approval by the Bank of Lithu - ania. Presently, the only operator of a regulated market established in Lithuania is AB Nasdaq Vilnius, and listing standards are published on
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