Secondary market in cyber-assets

In recent months, the AMAFI has been actively participating in discussions on issues surrounding cyber-assets. In addition to engaging with the AMF on initial coin offerings (cf. Financial Newsletter No. 34), the association has been talking with the Treasury about subjects such as issuing and transferring minibonds and other unlisted securities via blockchain, creating a regime for token offerings, and setting up a secondary market for tokens.

 Since the new PACTE legislation is supposed to include measures to address the secondary market question, the French Treasury asked AMAFI at the start of the summer to come up with some proposals. Discussions, which wrapped up in early September, were conducted by a group comprising members of the association alongside specialists in the new cyber-asset markets. The group put forward a number of proposals to regulate participants in the secondary market for these digital assets (AMAFI / 18-47). These included introducing a single cyber-asset company authorisation, which would entail compliance with general requirements relating to IT resilience for example and/or expertise in cyber-assets, as well as with specific requirements based on whether the firm plans to operate a cyber-asset trading platform or provide custody of cyber-assets for third parties.

AMAFI will continue exploring this subject, while keeping track of developments arising in connection with the PACTE legislation, since the National Assembly is proposing to amend this portion of the bill fairly substantially.