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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter July 8, 2021

The Legal Characterization of Crypto-Exchange Platforms

  • Andrea Minto EMAIL logo
From the journal Global Jurist

Abstract

In a thriving crypto-assets market, crypto exchange platforms play a pivotal role. Indeed, such trading systems are instrumental to the matching of demand and supply (trading) as well as the transfer of tokens (settlement and post-trading). Yet, there is currently no bespoke regulatory framework applicable to crypto exchange, raising pressing questions on whether and how those platforms are regulated. This article examines the Italian regulatory framework applicable to crypto-exchange platforms. It shows that the present regulatory engagement with crypto exchanges relates to the qualification of the crypto assets traded. Depending on such qualification, different financial regimes could be triggered.


Corresponding author: Andrea Minto, Jean Monnet Professor, Law and Economics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venezia, Italy; Visiting Professor, Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM), Limassol, Cyprus; and Visiting Professor, University of Southern Denmark (SDU) – Juridisk Institute, Odense, Denmark, E-mail:

This research has been carried out within the Jean Monnet Chair in Digitalisation in EU Financial Studies (EUDIFIN) – 611917-EPP-1-2019-1-IT-EPPJMO-CHAIR. The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the Author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. The Author would like to thank Lucrezia Cipriani for her research and editorial assistance.


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Published Online: 2021-07-08

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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