Fintech 2025

BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Joan Carette, Philippe De Prez and Thomas Derval, Simont Braun

10.8 Cryptocurrency Derivatives Depending on how these derivatives are struc - tured, 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 following two FSMA regulations (as con - firmed by royal decree): • the FSMA Regulation of 3 April 2014 prohibits the professional marketing of so-called “non- conventional assets” to retail clients; prohib - ited non-conventional assets include finan - cial products, the return of which depends directly or indirectly on cryptocurrencies; and • the FSMA Regulation of 26 May 2016 prohib - its the distribution of certain financial deriva - tives among Belgian retail clients, as well as a number of aggressive or inappropriate distribution techniques and forms of profes - sional marketing of derivatives on electronic trading venues. 10.9 Decentralised Finance (DeFi) DeFi is not in scope of MiCA or Belgian regula - tions. However, MiCA does not clearly explain when a service is considered to be “decentral- ised” , leaving some room for interpretation. On 16 January 2025, the ESAs published a report on DeFi with some further insights, but their find - ings have not provided a conclusive answer on MiCA’s scope. Parties facilitating the trading of security tokens or cryptocurrencies will thus always be subject to a case-by-case analysis by the local regulator. 10.10Regulation of Funds Funds investing in blockchain technology (such as Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF

amount, as well as the need to operate under a specific type of company form. This regime has now transformed into a transitional regime since MiCA’s full application and has largely become obsolete. In addition, EU Regulation 2022/858 of 30 May 2022 on a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology (the “DLT Regulation” ) allows EEA-based entities to apply for an EEA-wide permission to oper - ate DLT market infrastructures (DLT multilateral trading facilities, settlement systems and trading and settlement systems) within a temporary reg - ulatory sandbox regime. The new regime, which has been open since March 2023 to both new and existing market players, 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. Lastly, the EU Regulation 2023/1113 of 31 May 2023 on information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets (TFR), along - side MiCA, includes additional requirements to ensure the traceability of any type of “virtual asset” transfer or transaction. This modification is likely to have a significant impact on any enti - ty providing crypto-related activities, including crypto-exchanges. 10.6 Staking Staking services as such are not regulated in Belgium, unless they qualify as a crypto-asset service under MiCA (eg, custody and adminis - tration of crypto-assets). 10.7 Crypto-Related Lending Lending services relating to cryptocurrencies are not regulated in Belgium.

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