Niall Esler
Partner
Ireland
Welcome to our EU crypto update - a roundup of key Irish and EU legislative and regulatory developments shaping the crypto-asset sector.
This update is brought to you by our Regulatory & Risk Advisory practice group in Ireland.
Our aim is to keep you informed of the fast-evolving legal landscape, from new legislation and guidance to significant case law and observations. Sign up here to receive the next update in your inbox.
The 'key dates' section highlights key legislative and reporting dates relevant to Irish CASPs.
Key developments this month include:
- Department of Finance Ireland for Finance Vision 2030.
- ECB Opinion on Poland's proposed crypto-asset ban.
- ECB Call for Expression of Interest for the Offline Digital Euro.
- Selection of the Appia Group.
- ECB Letter on Digital Euro.
- ESMA Newsletter Nº70.
Legislation and guidance
Ireland
Department of Finance – Ireland for Finance Vision 2030
25 August 2026 – The Department of Finance (DoF) launched its Vision 2030 strategy for Ireland's financial services sector, with a strong emphasis on innovation, digital assets and tokenisation. The strategy aims to further position Ireland as a leading global financial centre.
The Vision 2023 strategy includes plans to establish a Digital Assets Industry Group to enhance engagement with industry stakeholders and inform future policy development. The Digital Assets Industry Group forms part of the DoF's efforts to strengthen its engagement with the industry, with both the public and private sector, on the digital assets policy. It is also planned to hold periodic specific roundtables, including with key international stakeholders. This signals support for fund tokenisation, the Digital Euro project, and the upcoming review of Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCAR). Furthermore, the Vision 2023 strategy outlines the Government's commitment to make legislative changes to support tokenisation of investment funds. In this context, the Irish Collective Asset Management Vehicle Act (ICAV Act) and the Companies Act are being reviewed. Additionally, it notes that a modernisation of the 1907 Limited Partnership is being worked on to support growth in private assets, particularly investment in venture capital.
Europe
European Central Bank (ECB) opinion on a ban on Crypto-Asset activities and measures relating to MiCAR
12 August 2026 – Following two requests from the Marshal of the Polish Parliament on 28 May 2026 and 10 July 2026, the ECB issued its opinion on two laws proposed in Poland. The first request concerned Poland's proposed amending law on the Law on unfair commercial practices. The second request concerned the implementation of MiCAR in Poland.
- The first draft law would amend the Law on unfair commercial practices to classify carrying out crypto-asset activities as an unfair market practice, regardless of whether the usual statutory criteria for unfair practices are met. The ECB considered that the first draft law, which would impose an outright prohibition on the provision of crypto-asset services backed by criminal liability, would be incompatible with MiCAR. A blanket national ban on CASPs would undermine MiCAR’s objective of establishing a harmonised single market for crypto-assets and fail to recognise the right of CASPs authorised in one Member State to provide services across all 27 Member States. Accordingly, national law cannot prevent or prohibit a passported entity that complies with MiCAR from providing crypto-asset services.
- The second draft law would implement MiCAR and Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 in Poland by designating the Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego ('KNF', the Polish Financial Supervision Authority) as the national competent authority and giving it supervisory and enforcement powers. It sets obligations for token issuers and CASPs, including information-reporting duties, and enables the KNF to impose financial, administrative and other sanctions. The ECB noted that Poland has designated its national competent authority (NCA) under MiCAR following the expiry of the transitional period for CASPs on 1 July 2026. The ECB further recommended alignment of the role assigned to Poland's NCA with Article 43(8) of MiCAR to ensure its competence to submit observations to the European Banking Authority.
ECB call for expression of interest: feedback on standards for the offline digital euro
18 August 2026 – Following the launch of the digital euro project in October 2025, the ECB is seeking feedback on the relevance, maturity and level of industry support for standards identified as being relevant to the offline digital euro. The initiative is aimed at original equipment manufacturers, mobile network operators, eSIM manufacturers and standards development organisations. Interested participants are invited to submit the application form by 25 September 2026, which will assist the ECB in updating its preliminary list of identified standards.
Selection of Appia contact group
19 August 2026 – The Eurosystem has selected 61 financial market stakeholders and public sector institutions to join the Appia contact group, following its 1 June 2026 call for expressions of interest. Appia is the ECB's initiative to shape the development of a European tokenised financial ecosystem and examining how central bank money and collateral services could be provided via different DLT networks. The group will support the development of tokenisation initiatives under both Appia, which seeks to promote an integrated and innovative payments and securities ecosystem, and Pontes, which focuses on facilitating the settlement of tokenised assets in central bank money through interoperability with Eurosystem infrastructure. The contact group will commence its work in September 2026.
ESMA launches Common Supervisory Action on CASPs’ digital operational resilience for custody services
7 July 2026 - ESMA announced the launch of its Common Supervisory Action (CSA) on CASPs' digital operational resilience for custody. Areas of focus of the CSA include risks associated with distributor ledger technology (DLT) as well as incident detection and response measures. As part of this initiative, national competent authorities (NCAs) will conduct a risk-based review of a sample of authorised CASPs from the second half of 2026 to the first half of 2027. ESMA will consolidate the NCA findings into a final report for submission to its Board of Supervisors after the exercise concludes in the second half of 2027.
Other updates
Europe
Letter from the ECB President to Mr Gerald Hauser, Member of the European Parliament (MEP), on Digital Euro
7 August 2026 – Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, confirmed in a letter to Mr Hauser, MEP, that the digital euro is intended to complement, rather than replace, cash. The digital euro would provide European citizens with an additional payment option while preserving freedom of choice. Lagarde further noted that cash will remain available and accepted, supported by proposed EU legislation, including the Legal Tender of Cash Regulation. The President of the ECB also emphasised that privacy and data protection are central features of the digital euro project, with the ECB seeking to provide a high level of privacy, including cash-like privacy features.
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) Newsletter - Nº70
31 July 2026 – ESMA published its June and July 2026 Spotlights on Markets newsletter. The newsletter includes a chapter marking the end of the MiCAR transitional period on1 July 2026, calling on unauthorised CASPs to wind down their activities, ensuring that clients' interests are safeguarded and market integrity is protected.
The newsletter also included a segment on ESMA's Common Supervisory Action on CASPs' digital operational resilience for custody.
Speeches
26 August 2026 – Piero Cipollone, Member of the ECB's Executive Board, delivered a speech titled 'From vision to delivery: building Europe’s tokenised financial market', in which he discussed the role of tokenisation and DLT in modernising financial market infrastructure, highlighted the ECB's ongoing work through the Pontes and Appia projects, and reiterated the importance of central bank money in supporting the settlement of tokenised assets
28 August 2026 - Isabel Schnabel, Member of the ECB's Executive Board, delivered a speech titled 'Central Banks on-chain', in which she argued that central banks should issue tokenised reserves directly on distributed ledger platforms. She discussed tokenisation of wholesale finance, explaining that using distributed ledger technology to represent financial assets and money as digital tokens offers substantial benefits for speed, safety, and programmability of settlement, and could be especially transformative for the Euro area by helping overcome its long-standing fragmentation of financial infrastructures. Schnabel made the case that central banks should themselves issue tokenised reserves natively on distributed ledger platforms rather than relying on private intermediaries or bridge solutions. Finally, she discussed the architectural trade-offs between a single unified ledger and multiple interoperable ledgers, highlighting the ECB's own projects Pontes and Appia as steps toward bringing the Eurosystem into the tokenised financial ecosystem.
Key dates: CASPs – Ireland
2026
Quarterly - Central Bank CASP Return.
To be submitted via the Central Bank Portal within 6 weeks of calendar quarter end.
1 January 2026 - The reporting periods under the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (‘CARF’) and the update to the Common Reporting Standard (‘CRS 2.0’) as well as DAC8 commence in Ireland, with entities in scope expected to collect relevant information from 1 January 2026.
First CARF/DAC8 reporting due by 31 May 2027 and first CRS 2.0 reporting due by 30 June 2027.
10 February 2026 - New PCF-57, Head of Safeguarding, introduced.
Persons proposed for the PCF-57 role must submit a PCF application. Where the firm has identified an individual who is deemed to be already performing the PCF-57 role prior to 10 February 2026, the Central Bank invites applications.
1 March 2026 - Transition period under the EBA No Action letter on the interplay between PSD2 and MiCAR ends.
24 March 2026 - Revised Central Bank Consumer Protection Code (incorporating Business Standards Regulation) takes effect.
2 – 31 March 2026 - The Central Bank Portal window is open for DORA Register of Information submission.
2 April 2026 - Commencement of the Central Bank Portal for CASP authorisation application submissions.
28 July 2026 - ESMA Guidelines for the criteria on the assessment of knowledge and competence under MiCAR start to apply.
Central Bank Minimum Competency Code will apply to persons giving information or providing advice on crypto-assets or crypto-asset services as defined in Article 3(1)(16) of MiCAR.
31 July 2026 - Central Bank CASP AML REQ return due.
31 December 2026 - CASPs subject to CARF/DAC8 are required to register with the Irish Revenue by 31 December 2026.
2027
March 2027 - Central Bank CASP AML REQ return due.
10 July 2027 - Application of the new AML / CFT legislative framework under the EU Single AML Rulebook.
31 December 2027 - CASP operating a trading platform shall ensure by 31 December 2027 that a white paper, as required by MiCAR, is notified and published for crypto-assets that were admitted to trading before 30 December 2024.
