KDEC 6070 - Global regulation of crypto-assets markets - EU/US

Payment systems have evolved from a boring, very traditional topic to a tool wielding considerable geopolitical power. The new world order, facing political crises and wars very close to Europe, has brought the importance of the “plumbing” underlying international payment systems to light. Additionally, crypto assets, their issuers, and intermediaries running platforms have changed how we conceptualize securities markets. This course engages with these issues on a global basis. It delves into developments in crypto assets markets which we understand as constantly intensifying, demonstrated by (i) major crypto trading platforms failures (such as FTX); (ii) increasing number of regulatory inquiries and enforcement actions against crypto players ; and (iii) key legislative achievements (such as the European Regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets (“MiCA”) coming into force in 2024). This stands in stark contrast to the US, where congress has not managed to settle on a bill, despite various attempts to do so. Consequently, the US jurisdiction is increasingly left with regulation by enforcement of the SEC, hampering legal security for issuers and investor protection. In Europe it seems that we have reached a turning point where native crypto players will have to take the regulatory route if they want to maintain their core business and compete with traditional finance players, where does the crypto regulation stand? What type of regulatory approaches have been taken in the EU and in the US to regulate crypto assets related activities? How do they differ? What has been the role of international regulatory standards in that sphere? Do the central bankers still have a card to play with the development of so-called Central Bank Digital Currencies (“CBDCs”)? Departing from the FTX scandal, the class will touch upon key concepts of capital markets and securities law before providing a comparative law analysis on EU and US crypto regulation. The class will successively discuss : ● Introduction – the FTX scandal ● Law and Institutions of Capital Markets – Introduction ● Where it all began – EU Crypto regulation genesis ● The catalyst of EU Crypto regulation – Libra & Facebook ● Defining “securities” under US Law and “crypto assets” under MiCA ● The regulation of crypto asset service providers – US Law and MiCA ● CBDCs - what potential? The course will be taught by Katja Langenbucher and Jennifer D'hoir. Katja is a law professor at Goethe-University's House of Finance in Frankfurt, affiliated professor at Sciences Po, Paris, and long-term guest professor at Fordham Law School, NYC. Jennifer started her career with the French financial regulator (Autorité des marchés financiers) and led the European Regulatory team at Kraken before recently joining Sorare as Director of Global Public Policy.

Katja LANGENBUCHER,Jennifer D'HOIR

Séminaire

English

Autumn 2025-2026

The class will be graded based on coutinuous assessment as well as a concluding thoughts statement comparing global regulation on crypto assets to be presented during the last class.