{"id":"circulars/cssf-25-886","title":"Circular CSSF 25/886","type":"circular","date":"2025-04-30","kind":"circular","html":"

Circular CSSF 25/886 is a CSSF circular, published 30 April 2025. Subject: Application of the Guidelines of the European Securities and Markets Authority on the conditions and criteria for the qualification of crypto-assets as financial instruments (ESMA75453128700-1323).

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Relevant for: Crypto-Assets Service Providers (CASPs), Issuers of ARTs, Issuers of E-Money Tokens (EMTs), Issuers of Tokens.

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Main topic: Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA/MiCAR). Keywords: Crypto-assets.

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Circular CSSF 25/886 Application of the Guidelines of the European Securities and Markets Authority on the conditions and criteria for the qualification of crypto-assets as financial instruments (ESMA75453128700-1323)

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Circular CSSF 25/886 Application of the Guidelines of the European Securities and Markets Authority on the conditions and criteria for the qualification of crypto-assets as financial instruments (ESMA75453128700-1323) To all financial market participants, including issuers as defined in Article 3(1), point (10), offerors as defined in Article 3(1), point (13) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 1 (“MiCAR”), crypto-asset service providers as defined in Article 3(1), point (15) of MiCAR, investors and all persons engaging in activities relating to crypto-assets.

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Luxembourg, 30 April 2025 Ladies and Gentlemen, The purpose of this circular is to inform you that the CSSF, in its capacity as competent authority, applies the Guidelines of the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) on the conditions and criteria for the qualification of crypto-assets as financial instruments (Ref. ESMA754531287001323) (the “Guidelines”), published on 19 March 2025. Consequently, the CSSF has integrated the Guidelines into its administrative practice and regulatory approach with a view to promoting supervisory convergence in this field at European level.

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  1. The Guidelines The Guidelines are issued by ESMA on the basis of Article 2(5) of MiCAR pursuant to Article 16 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010. The Guidelines apply as from 18 May 2025. These Guidelines specify conditions and criteria for determining whether a crypto-asset should qualify as a financial instrument and therefore ensuring the common, uniform and consistent application of the provisions in Article 2(4)(a) of MiCAR. Furthermore, these guidelines provide clarifications on certain features of utility tokens, non-fungible tokens and hybrid tokens. These guidelines also contain examples for illustrative purposes. While these examples aim to provide clarity and aim at assisting both national competent authorities and financial market participants in their assessment, they should not substitute the performance of a complete assessment of whether a crypto-asset should qualify as a financial instrument and in that respect, they should not be interpreted as a definitive classification nor substitute or affect the necessary case-by-case analysis. The
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Guidelines

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are

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attached

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this

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circular

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and

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are

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available

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ESMA’s

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website

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https://www.esma.europa.eu/.

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Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 on markets in cryptoassets, and amending Regulations (EU) No 1093/2010 and (EU) No 1095/2010 and Directives 2013/36/EU and (EU) 2019/1937

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    Scope of application This circular shall apply to financial market participants, including issuers as defined in Article 3(1), point (10), offerors as defined in Article 3(1), point (13) of MiCAR, crypto-asset service providers as defined in Article 3(1), point (15) of MiCAR, investors and all persons engaging in activities relating to crypto-assets.

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    Date of application This circular shall apply as from 18 May 2025.

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Annex

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ESMA Guidelines on the conditions and criteria for the qualification of cryptoassets as financial instruments (ESMA75453128700-1323)

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19/03/2025 ESMA75453128700-1323

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Guidelines On the conditions and criteria for the qualification of crypto-assets as financial instruments

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Table of Contents 1

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Scope ............................................................................................................................ 3

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Legislative references, abbreviations and definitions .................................................... 4 2.1

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Legislative references ............

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The text above is the opening of the document; the PDF carries the whole.

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Document page, PDF. Source: Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), reproduced with the CSSF's consent. The French text prevails.

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