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New rules for crypto exchanges operating in Italy

[:it]On February 17, the Decree of the Ministry of Finance establishing the Italian register of cryptocurrency exchanges at the OAM (Organismo Affari in Mediazione) was published in the Official Gazette.

The decree is now available here

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https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/atto/stampa/serie_generale/originario

The exercise on the territory of the Italian Republic of the servicesĀ relating to the use of virtual currency and digital wallet servicesĀ is reserved forĀ subjects who are registered in the special section of the register.

Annex 2 of the Decree details as follows the services object of this regulation:

1. Services functional to the use and exchange of currenciesĀ and / or their conversion from or into current currenciesĀ legal or digital representations of value, including thoseĀ convertible into other virtual currencies;
2. Issuing services, offering of virtual currencies;
3. Transfer and clearing services in virtual currencies;
4. Any other service functional to the acquisition, to theĀ trading or intermediation in the exchange of virtual currenciesĀ (e.g. execution, reception, transmission of orders relating to currencies
virtual on behalf of third parties, virtual currency placement services, consulting services on virtual currencies);
5. Digital wallet services.

Registration in the special section of the register is subject to the establishment of a branch or permanent seat in Italy.

Among the various information that each registered exchange is required to communicate quarterly to the OAM are the following:

– Customer identification data
– Countervalue in euros, at the date of the last day of the reference quarter, of the total balance of legal currencies and virtual currencies referable to each customer;
– Number and total value in euro, at the date of the last day of the reference quarter, of the conversion operations from legal to virtual and from virtual to legal currencyĀ referable to each customer;
– Number of conversion operations between virtual currencies referable to each customer;
– Number of outbound and inbound virtual currency transfer operations from / to the service provider relating to the use of virtual currency referable to each customer;
– Number and equivalent in euro, at the date of the last day of the reference quarter, of the amount of outgoing and incoming legal currency transfer operations from / to theĀ provider of services relating to the use of virtual currency, referable to each customer and divided by cash transfers and traceable instruments.

The obligation for companies based in another European country to open a permanent establishment in Italy (as recalled by art. 17-bis, second paragraph of the Legislative Decree 141/2010)Ā appears to be in contrast with the free circulation of services in Europe, and with the scope of the future MICA Regulation.[:]