The German Ministry of Finance has published recommendations on how to interpret “securities issued on the blockchain” from a legal point of view – this is how the department intends to characterize at least part of digital assets.
However, this is not only about this: German officials intend to regulate all "electronic securities, including the issue of cryptocurrency tokens." The document states that the administration of the new sphere will be guided by the principle of “neutrality” in relation to the technology of the distributed registry itself , that is, the authorities do not intend to make value judgments regarding it, if we talk about the benefits or uselessness of the blockchain.
The ministry also drew attention to the fact that "cryptocurrency tokens are not covered by the current regulation of the financial market." This is due to the fact that the Ministry of Finance is ready to consider them as securities, but the Law on Securities Trading does not include the concept of such digital assets and therefore does not recognize such status for them. The issue of ICO is also unregulated.
The ministry also said that they intend to coordinate the recommendations issued by officials with the Ministry of Justice. After that, the Ministry of Finance intends to go to the Bundestag with updated recommendations.
The revitalization of public financiers is related to the fact that the German government announced its intention to soon develop a strategy for the introduction and development of the blockchain.
The recommendations published by the German Ministry of Finance mean the most important thing: the authorities intend to completely legalize “ cryptocurrency tokens ” that have signs of securities.
In addition, prior to the adoption of amendments to current legislation, the de facto department prohibited the introduction of any restrictions on the circulation of such digital assets due to the fact that they are not described in the current law. In addition, “user tokens” should not be subject to any infringement, since they can in principle not be recognized as securities.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance’s intentions may run into opposition in the Bundestag, where, as deputy Thomas Heilmann put it, “the majority do not understand what the blockchain and digital assets that are based on this technology are.”
Publication date 11.03.2019
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