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ESMA Wants to Create 'Sound Legal Framework' for Cryptocurrencies in 2020
Citing concerns about digitalization risks to financial markets, ESMA plans to focus more on crypto regulation this year.
By Nikhilesh De
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 12:07 p.m. Published Jan 9, 2020, 2:30 p.m.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) plans to push for more regulation around cryptocurrencies and related products as part of its 2020 focus.
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ESMA published its 2020-2022 priorities list Thursday, noting that EU capital markets are facing new risks from digitalization. The organization wants market participants to acknowledge and prepare for these apparent risks.
"The dangers of cyberthreats to the financial system as a whole and a sound legal framework for crypto-assets are increasingly becoming areas of focus for ESMA together with the other ESAs, the ESRB, the ECB and the European Commission," the document reads.
ESMA has been grappling with the question of how to regulate cryptocurrencies and securities in the space for years, developing rules for initial coin offerings and derivatives around the space.
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What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
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Canadian Province Wins Forfeiture of $1M QuadrigaCX Co-Founder's Cash, Gold via Default Judgment
The ruling transfers cash, gold bars, watches, and jewelry seized from a CIBC safety deposit box and bank account into government hands after Patryn did not defend the case.
What to know:
- The Supreme Court of British Columbia has forfeited $1 million in cash and gold tied to QuadrigaCX's co-founder, Michael Patryn, to the government.
- Patryn did not contest the forfeiture, which involved 45 gold bars, luxury watches, and over $250,000 in cash seized under an Unexplained Wealth Order.
- The forfeiture may lead to a process determining if any assets can be directed to QuadrigaCX's creditors, who received 13 cents on the dollar in the bankruptcy settlement.
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