On 10 February 2025, the law of 6 February 2025 regarding notably digital finance was published in the Official Journal of Luxembourg (the “Law”).
The Law aims at setting out national rules for the application of notably Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets (“MiCAR”).
In this respect, the Commission de surveillance du secteur financier (“CSSF”) is the competent authority responsible for ensuring the application of MiCAR. To this end, the CSSF is designated as the supervisory authority for crypto-asset service providers (“CASPs”), issuers of tokens referencing one or more assets (“ARTs”) and issuers of electronic money tokens (“EMTs”). It is thus authorised to recover its staff, financial and operational costs through fees imposed on offerors, persons applying for admission to trading or operators of trading platforms for crypto-assets other than ARTs and EMTs. The CSSF is furthermore granted with the necessary supervisory and investigative powers (including on-site inspections), and it may impose administrative sanctions.
Furthermore, the scope of the amended law of 12 November 2004 on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing is amended to include CASPs which replace virtual asset services providers (“VASPs”). However, virtual asset service providers which were registered as of 30 December 2024 benefit from transitional measures until 1 July 2026 or until they are granted or refused an authorisation under MiCAR.
The Law generally applies as from 10 February 2025.
For more information on MiCAR, please refer to (i) our eAlert on “MiCAR Levels 2 and 3 measures – where do we stand?”, (ii) our eAlert “Adoption of MiCAR” with links to 11 short MiCAR-dedicated videos, (iii) our eAlert “New EBA guidelines to manage AML risks as part of the activities of crypto-asset service providers, (iv) our eAlert on “What to expect in 2025 ?” and our “CMS Expert Guide to Crypto Regulation in Luxembourg”.
