The international conference titled “Regulating Atypical Products in the EU—Risks and Opportunities outside MiCA, MiFID AND AIFMD” ended on the 6^th of October, with great success and the participation of representatives from the regulatory authorities, universities, and enterprises of the private and public sector.

The conference addressed key issues on crypto-assets and other “atypical” financial products related legislation, such as the following:

• What is the interplay between MiCA, MiFID II and AIFMD?
• How can new crypto-assets or new practices such as DAOs be regulated in a decentralised context?
• Is a risk-based approach (like the one followed by the AI Act) appropriate to regulate DeFi? 
• Is algorithmic transparency and algorithmic audits the future of financial regulation? 
• What are the challenges in regulating “atypical” financial products?

Nikos Kontizas, of Counsel of our Firm, was the moderator of the roundtable titled: “The regulation of atypical financial products in national jurisdictions.” The speakers at the panel were: Anastasia (Natassa) Stamou, Vice Chair of the Hellenic Capital Markets Commission, Chair of the Investment Guarantee Fund, and General Secretary of the Hellenic Association for Financial Law, professor Marina Teller, Université Nice Côte d’Azur, and Grazia Bonante, partner at Studio Legale Lener & Partners.

The panel discussed the regulatory regime in France, Italy and Greece, the role of intermediaries involved in the subscription of these products, as well as the challenges of the supervisory authorities. The absence of a commonly agreed interpretation of the terms “financial instrument” and “crypto-asset” is a major challenge for the regulators.  The panel stressed the need to adopt further EU financial regulation on decentralized finance after the implementation of MiCA.