1小时前
· CoinTelegraph
MiCA licensing only the beginning as crypto custodians face scrutiny
A MiCA license allows crypto firms to operate in the EU, but the ESMA’s review will test whether custodians can meet the required security and resilience standards.
Getting licensed under the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework is only the beginning for crypto custodians, as regulators turn their attention from authorization to operational resilience.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on Wednesday <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/esma-crypto-custody-scrutiny-mica-transition" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">launched a Common Supervisory Action</a> (CSA) to examine the operational resilience of crypto asset service providers (CASPs), placing custody services at the center of the review.
“The signal is quite clear: for custodians, a licence is the start line, not the finish,” Sebastien Dessimoz, co-founder and managing partner at digital asset infrastructure firm Taurus, told Cointelegraph.
The review comes shortly after <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/eu-crypto-rulebook-enforcement-challenge-mica-transition-end" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">MiCA’s transitional period expired</a>, marking one of the first major supervisory exercises under the EU’s new crypto framework.
The ESMA told Cointelegraph that the CSA will apply to a sample of authorized CASPs under MiCA. The review will <a href="https://www.esma.europa.eu/press-news/esma-news/esma-launches-common-supervisory-action-casps-digital-operational-resilience" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">>assess</a> the maturity of CASPs’ digital operational resilience frameworks for custody activities, focusing on risks including key and storage management, transaction controls, incident response and dependencies on third-party providers.
According to industry executives, the action marks a significant shift in Europe’s crypto market, where custody providers are increasingly expected to demonstrate, not simply claim, that their operational controls can withstand real-world risks.
“The shift I expect is from asserting security to evidencing it,” Dessimoz said. “This is a healthy development,” he noted, adding that digital assets are moving deeper into regulated financial infrastructure, and that requires the same security, accountability and resilience institutions expect in traditional markets.
<em><strong>Related: </strong></em><a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/esma-mica-register-new-casps-stanchart-update" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><em><strong>StanChart features in ESMA’s first MiCA register update since deadline</strong></em></a>
Jody Mettler, chief operating officer of BitGo and president of BitGo Trust, told Cointelegraph that institutional clients have already been asking more detailed questions about how custody providers segregate assets, manage access controls, respond to incidents and maintain business continuity during periods of market stress.
“The signal is that regulators are looking more closely at