CRYPTOCURRENCIES, MEF AND UE SITUATION

Recently, MEF answered to a parliamentary request presented to the Finance Committee concerning the state of national regulation on cryptocurrencies, still absent to date, reiterating the need to define clear, homogeneous tax legislation but which above starts from the assumption that this phenomenon - see the recent Bitcoin rallies – is not just a digital currency but "crypto-assets with high speculative nature and without any underlying to support the value" as recently reported by the Bank of Italy and Consob.

In fact, the potential lost opportunities for entrepreneurs of this new activities (mining, staking, yeld-farming and NFT) who find themselves operating in an unclear legal framework are worrying. It should be noted, in the national regulatory vacuum, that in September 2020 the proposal for the Mica Regulation, Market in crypto assets for "the development of a solid and homogeneous legal framework within the EU" was presented to the EU, aimed, among other purposes, to "protect citizens and the stability of the financial system". This proposed regulation is currently "subject to negotiation in the EU Council" and, once and if approved, it would automatically be self-executive within the individual national systems.

Our staff is available for any clarification.