ChainCatcher news, German government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann accused Musk of attempting to interfere in the upcoming national elections in Germany due to his support for the far-right party "Alternative for Germany" (AfD). Musk published an article in a German newspaper supporting the party, provoking a strong reaction from German officials.Musk stated that as a businessman operating in Germany, he has the right to express his support, but the authorities have classified the AfD as extremists.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) released its final guidance on Tuesday to assist member states in implementing the upcoming regulations. ESMA published the final report on reverse solicitation, systems, the potential classification of cryptocurrencies as financial instruments, and technical standards for preventing market abuse.The EU's dedicated regulation for the cryptocurrency industry, the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, is set to come into effect on December 30 across 27 member states. However, some countries have yet to develop legislation to implement MiCA. The Bank of Portugal stated on Monday that, as the legislation has not yet been passed, it is currently unclear which national authority will be responsible for these rules. Industry associations noted that part of the delay in national authorities is due to the short time gap between ESMA's release of the final technical standards in October and the implementation date.ESMA Chair Verena Ross stated, "Looking ahead, as the transition period progresses, we will continue to provide guidance and work with all national competent authorities (NCAs) to ensure the smooth implementation of MiCA and support a level playing field through regulatory convergence actions."

ChainCatcher news, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) stated on Wednesday that cryptocurrency companies should be required to undergo external audits of their network defenses, and urged lawmakers in Brussels to amend the region's flagship regulatory framework for the crypto industry to better protect consumers.The agency believes that stricter cybersecurity rules are an important component of the EU's regulation of the crypto asset market (MiCA), which will come into full effect in December.ESMA has been advocating for the inclusion of a requirement for cryptocurrency companies to have their ability to withstand cyberattacks audited by a third party, as the agency works to finalize the implementation of these rules. These rules were passed by EU lawmakers last year.However, the European Commission opposed this move, stating that ESMA is overstepping its authority and going beyond the legislative mandate. Both sides declined to comment.

ChainCatcher news, according to CryptoSlate, based on a statement from October 7, the crypto investment firm 21Shares has called on the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to establish standardized regulatory rules for including cryptocurrencies in Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) funds. The company pointed out that the current approach lacks consistency, leading to confusion among retail and institutional investors across Europe. For example, Germany and Malta allow UCITS funds to include cryptocurrencies, while Luxembourg and Ireland do not.Mandy Chiu, Head of Financial Products Development at 21Shares, explained that this fragmented approach limits retail investors' ability to fully benefit from cryptocurrencies. She added, "By providing a consistent set of rules across Europe, ESMA can open new avenues for investors to diversify and enhance their portfolios in a regulated environment designed to protect investors." Chiu also noted that clear and consistent rules would help stabilize the market while promoting the growth of the cryptocurrency industry.Therefore, 21Shares urges ESMA to develop comprehensive guidelines that allow all EU member states to invest indirectly in cryptocurrencies. According to 21Shares, this would protect investors and broaden the channels for cryptocurrency investment. It is worth noting that 21Shares' call for regulatory clarity comes as ESMA reviews its recent consultation feedback on including new asset classes, including cryptocurrencies, in UCITS funds.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Paradigm has submitted comments to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) regarding the prevention of market abuse in the crypto asset market. It pointed out that ESMA should avoid misapplying concepts from traditional financial markets to the foundational blockchain layer when dealing with Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) to prevent inconsistencies and unintended consequences.Paradigm calls for ESMA to gain a deeper understanding of MEV and supports innovative tools to address potential abuse risks. "Currently, there is no universally accepted method to identify which activities related to MEV are harmful or suspicious, and thus requiring the ecosystem to monitor and prevent inherently subjective behaviors may lead to inconsistent applications and unexpected outcomes."

ChainCatcher news, according to a report by Cointelegraph, a research report released by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) states that "currently, the cryptocurrency market, including DeFi, does not pose a significant risk to financial stability, mainly due to its relatively small size and the limited channels of contagion between crypto and traditional financial markets."ESMA also investigated several major events in 2022, including the collapse of the Terra ecosystem and FTX, and noted that this crypto "Lehman moment" has still not had a significant impact on traditional markets.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has released a second consultation paper on the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).ESMA is seeking stakeholder feedback on five areas of MiCA, including sustainability indicators for distributed ledger technology, insider information disclosure, technical requirements for white papers, measures for trading transparency, and record-keeping for crypto asset service providers (CASPs).

ChainCatcher message, the derivatives market Thales announced that a personal computer/Metamask of a core contributor was hacked, and some hot wallets acting as temporary deployers ($25,000) or admin bots ($10,000) have been compromised. Please do not interact with any Thalesmarket contracts on BNB Chain and revoke any pending approvals.All funds on Optimism, Arbitrum, Polygon, and Base are safe. Thales stated that due to this attack, support for BSC will be officially discontinued. Additionally, Thales released a list of stolen contract addresses and advised users to check if they have revoked the corresponding authorizations.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU financial markets regulator, has published its first consultation paper under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and invited stakeholders to provide feedback by September 20, 2023. ESMA is seeking opinions on the proposed rules for crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), particularly regarding their authorization, the identification and management of conflicts of interest, and how CASPs should handle complaints. The consultation document states that MiCA will serve as the cornerstone of EU regulation for crypto assets. Among other things, it sets out the authorization and supervision of crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), requirements for providing crypto-asset services and activities, authorization and supervision of trading platforms, and requirements for crypto-asset trading activities across the EU. The implementation of MiCA will require market participants to undertake extensive preparatory activities to comply with the new rules.Additionally, ESMA aims to gather more information about respondents' current and planned activities as part of a fact-finding exercise to better understand the EU crypto-asset market and its future developments. These questions relate to factors such as respondents' expected turnover, the number of white papers they plan to publish, and the use of on-chain versus off-chain transactions. Feedback from this part of the consultation will be kept confidential and will be used to refine certain proposals included in the second and third consultation packages. ESMA will consider the feedback received from this consultation and expects to publish a final report and submit a draft of the technical standards for approval by the European Commission by June 30, 2024, at the latest.

ChainCatcher news, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) will consult in July on proposed new complaint handling and conflict of interest rules that EU-based cryptocurrency companies must comply with, providing recommendations on how the new EU crypto assets market (MiCA) rules will operate in practice.ESMA stated that the second round of consultations in October will consider the disclosure of environmental impacts and may also cover trading transparency and governance requirements, while the third round of consultations, due in early 2024, will focus on market abuse and investor protection. (source link)