The Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) came into play in June 2023, requiring firms issuing and trading crypto-assets to follow new, stricture rules covering transparency, disclosure, authorisation and supervision of transactions.
Among MiCA’s many requirements, new sustainability indicator rules have flown under the radar for many crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), prompting B2B digital assets infrastructure provider Zumo to launch a new offering to help firms remain compliant.
New sustainability-related rules drafted by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), cover the environmental impact of their offered crypto-assets. Zumo’s new out-of-box feature enables CASPs active in the European Union (EU) to comply with the upcoming sustainability requirements of the MiCA regulation.
As mandated by MiCA, CASPs – including exchanges, brokerages, custodians and trading firms – that are active in the EU, or wish to provide their services into the EU, will need to have a compliant website disclosure covering the environmental impact of offered crypto-assets in place from 30 December 2024. Failure to comply will risk a potential fine of at least €5million or five per cent of a provider’s total annual turnover.
Recent industry research also suggests that over 80 per cent of CASPs may be unaware of the need to report ESG data from ESMA’s deadline of 30 December.
Nick Jones, founder and CEO of Zumo
“MiCA’s sustainability requirements are going live to a tight deadline, and bring with them complex data questions as well as potentially hefty fines,” explained Nick Jones, founder and CEO of Zumo. “It’s become clear that CASPs across Europe simply aren’t ready.
“In response, we’ve taken another important step on our sustainability journey to add the indicators that will enable service providers to comply with current and future sustainability compliance requirements. With our MiCA solution, CASPs will be able to access a single interface that helps them cut through all the complexity associated with pulling data together, formatting an appropriate template, and providing the output that ESMA is looking for.”
Zumo supporting MiCA compliance
The new Zumo Oxygen MiCA compliance module helps CASPs to easily access MiCA-compliant sustainability metrics for their listed crypto-assets. The solution draws on best-in-class sustainability data from Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute (CCRI), one of Zumo’s strategic partners, and further builds on Zumo’s Oxygen proposition, first introduced to help providers of crypto-asset services better align their digital asset activities with net zero principles.
The new feature will help CASPs across the EU to streamline and simplify their sustainability compliance through auto-generated MiCA website disclosure reports.
Zumo was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Crypto Sustainability Coalition, which explored how blockchain tools can contribute to meaningful progress towards climate action, and recently signed the Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Declaration. Zumo’s employees also co-founded the Emerging Technologies Sustainability Taskforce (ETST), to ensure sustainability standards across the global digital assets sector are fit for purpose.
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