On 26 February 2025, the European Securities and Markets Authority (‘ESMA’) published the official translation of the Guidelines on situations in which a third-country firm is deemed to solicit clients established or situated in the EU and the supervision practices to detect and prevent circumvention of the reverse solicitation exemption under MiCA Regulation[1]. These guidelines have been issued on the basis of the delegation set out in Article 61(3) of the MiCA Regulation. They shall include specific requirements for:
- solicitation of clients by third country firms, including: means of solicitation, person soliciting, exclusive initiative of the client and when is a crypto-asset or crypto-asset service of the same type as another one;
- supervision practices to detect and prevent circumvention of the reverse solicitation exemption, concerning in particular: monitoring entities targeting clients established or situated in the Union or active in the Union, exchanges with other authorities and reacting to client complaints or whistle-blowers.
The guidelines can be consulted at the following link:
https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2025-02/ESMA35-1872330276-2030_Guidelines_on_reverse_solicitation_under_MiCA.pdf
[1] Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 on Markets in crypto-assets and amending Regulations (EU) No 1093/2010 and (EU) No 1095/2010 and Directives 2013/36/EU and (EU) 2019/1937 (OJ L 150 9.6.2023, p. 40).