Notification of the MiCAR Whitepaper

Under MiCAR, every Member State is obliged to designate a National Competent Authority (NCA). This is the supervisory body responsible for enforcing the rules surrounding MiCAR in that specific EU Member State.

Some examples of Member States and their designated competent authorities:

• •Netherlands: Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM)
• •Germany: Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin)
• •France: Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF)
• •Ireland: Central Bank of Ireland

A successful NCA submission is more than just emailing the MiCAR Whitepaper. The NCA expects a complete dossier that meets strict requirements, and is also susceptible to CDR 2025/421, which stipulates that you should transmit several data-items in a machine-readable format with your submission. An incomplete submission can lead to delays in your go-to-market strategy.

To be ready for submission, you need to have the following in place:

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  A MiCAR whitepaper in iXBRL: The MiCAR whitepaper must meet all substantive requirements of ITS 2024/2984 and adhere to the ESMA taxonomy
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  Explanatory Document: This is a crucial document. Your MiCAR whitepaper submission must be accompanied by an explanatory document, adhering to Guidelines JC 2024 28, which confirms why your crypto-asset does not qualify as certain financial instruments, an e-money token, or an asset-referenced token.
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  Correct file formats and metadata: The documents must be supplied in the formats required by the specific NCA (often specific templates or secure portals) and supplement the correct set of data required by the NCA to take in your MiCAR whitepaper.

It must be noted that the different NCA's also have different submission requirements so that the above is a broad overview of the NCA submission.

Once you have submitted the notification package to your NCA, a specific timeline begins. It is important to know that you are not allowed to publish immediately.

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  Assessment and Validation: The NCA checks whether the dossier is complete and whether the whitepaper and the legal explanation meet the requirements. Although they do not "approve" the whitepaper in advance (as with a prospectus), they do have the authority to request additional information or demand changes if matters are unclear or misleading.
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  The Statutory 20-Working Day Period: After submission, there is a waiting period of 20 working days before you can publish the whitepaper publicly on your website.
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  Passporting across the EEA: Following a successful notification, the NCA "passports" your MiCAR whitepaper to the other states in the European Economic Area and transmits the MiCAR Whitepaper to the ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority), who will place your MiCAR Whitepaper with relevant metadata in a central ESMA register. From that moment onwards, the crypto-asset to which the MiCAR whitepaper pertains may be offered/traded.

The step towards the National Competent Authority may seem intimidating, but it is the final hurdle to a legal and reliable token launch. You do not have to go through this process alone.

We offer specialized support to ensure your notification goes smoothly:

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  Expert Guidance: We ensure that your legal explanation is sound and that your whitepaper meets all technical requirements.
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  Stress-Free Compliance: We have submitted dozens of MiCAR whitepapers so far and navigate the complex procedures for you.
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  Speed: With our expertise, we ensure that your whitepaper and explanatory document are ready for submission within one week.

Ensure your project does not get bogged down in regulations. Contact us today and take the final step toward a successful launch.