La r\u00e9glementation des crypto-monnaies en Belgique et en Europe se pr\u00e9pare. Ci-apr\u00e8s, un bref expos\u00e9 de quelques questions juridiques sur les crypto-monnaies, et sur la r\u00e9glementation des crypto-assets et autres monnaies virtuelles en cours d’\u00e9laboration (18 juin 2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
L\u2019autorit\u00e9 bancaire europ\u00e9enne (EBA) et l\u2019Autorit\u00e9 europ\u00e9enne des march\u00e9s financiers (\u00ab ESMA \u00bb) d\u00e9finissent les crypto-actifs<\/strong> comme :<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00ab a type of private assets that (i) depends primarily on cryptography and Distributed Ledger Technology or similar technology as part of their perceived or inherent value, (ii) is neither issued nor guaranteed by a central bank or public authority and (iii) can be used as a means of exchange and\/or for investment purposes and\/or to access a good or service \u00bb<\/em>[1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parmi les crypto-actifs (crypto-assets), on distingue :<\/p>\n\n\n\n La pr\u00e9sente note ne porte que sur la premi\u00e8re cat\u00e9gorie, les crypto-monnaies<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Les \u00ab crypto-monnaies \u00bb ou \u00ab monnaies virtuelles \u00bb sont d\u00e9finies par la 5e directive anti blanchiment[2]<\/a> (voyez un aper\u00e7u de la mati\u00e8re li\u00e9e au blanchiment ici<\/a>) :<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00ab a digital representation of value that is not issued or guaranteed by a central bank or a public authority, is not necessarily attached to a legally established currency and does not possess a legal status of currency or money, but is accepted by natural or legal persons as a means of exchange and which can be transferred, stored and traded electronically \u00bb.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n La BCE d\u00e9finit, quant \u00e0 elle, les monnaies virtuelles comme suit :<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00ab a digital representation of value, not issued by a central bank, credit institution or e-money institution, which in some circumstances can be used as an alternative to money \u00bb<\/em>[3]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n L\u2019EBA consid\u00e8re que :<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00ab crypto-asset activities do not constitute regulated services within the scope of EU banking, payments and electronic money law \u00bb<\/em>[4]<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00ab crypto-assets fall outside the scope of EU financial services regulation<\/strong> (the EBA identifies in this report only limited cases in which crypto-assets may qualify as electronic money) and specific services relating to crypto-asset custodian wallet provision and crypto-asset trading platforms do not constitute regulated activities under EU financial services law (\u2026) it appears that a significant portion of activities involving crypto-assets do not fall within the scope of current EU financial services law (but may fall within the scope of national laws) (\u2026). Activities involving crypto-assets do not typically involve regulated financial services under EU law<\/strong> and, therefore, of themselves constitute \u2018other business activities\u2019 of institutions, payment institutions and electronic money institutions (\u2026). In carrying out such activities institutions, payment institutions and electronic money institutions must have in place appropriate arrangements<\/strong> to mitigate the operational, including ICT, and reputational risks involved (e.g. in relation to credit institutions, see Article 74 of the CRD[5]<\/sup><\/strong><\/sup><\/a>\u00bb<\/em>[6]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n L\u2019article 2, 1\u00b0, de la loi du 2 ao\u00fbt 2002 relative \u00e0 la surveillance du secteur financier et aux services financiers d\u00e9finit les instruments financiers comme ceux appartenant \u00e0 l\u2019une des cat\u00e9gories qu\u2019il \u00e9num\u00e8re de fa\u00e7on exhaustive[7]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On estime que les purs \u00ab payment\/currency type crypto-assets \u00bb<\/em> sont peu susceptibles de tomber dans l\u2019une des cat\u00e9gories d\u2019instruments financiers list\u00e9es par la loi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00ab Ils sont en effet peu susceptibles d\u2019\u00eatre consid\u00e9r\u00e9s comme des instruments du march\u00e9 mon\u00e9taire (art. 2, 1\u00b0, b), de la loi du 2 ao\u00fbt 2002), des quotas d\u2019\u00e9mission (art. 2, 1\u00b0, k), de la loi du 2 ao\u00fbt 2002) ou des instruments d\u00e9riv\u00e9s (art. 2, 1\u00b0, d) \u00e0 j), de la loi du 2 ao\u00fbt 2002). Il en est de m\u00eame pour ce qui concerne les instruments du march\u00e9 des capitaux que sont les parts d\u2019OPC (art. 2, 1\u00b0, b), de la loi du 2 ao\u00fbt 2002) et les valeurs mobili\u00e8res (art. 2, 1\u00b0, A), de la loi du 2 ao\u00fbt 2002). On rel\u00e8ve notamment que la d\u00e9finition de valeurs mobili\u00e8res exclut express\u00e9ment les \u00ab instruments de paiement \u00bb de sorte qu\u2019il est peu probable que les crypto-actifs qui sont de purs moyens de paiement soient qualifi\u00e9s comme tels<\/em> \u00bb[8]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Il convient toutefois de noter que, s\u2019agissant des crypto-actifs \u00ab hybrid \u00bb ou de \u00ab pure investment type \u00bb, on ne peut exclure que certains d\u2019entre eux r\u00e9pondent \u00e0 la d\u00e9finition de parts d\u2019organismes de placement collectif ou de valeurs mobili\u00e8res<\/strong>[9]<\/a>. La qualification des crypto-actifs de \u00ab pure investment type \u00bb en valeurs mobili\u00e8res d\u00e9pendra essentiellement de la nature des droits qu\u2019ils conf\u00e8rent[10]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Les crypto-actifs reposent sur la cryptographie[11]<\/sup><\/a> et la Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)[12]<\/sup><\/a> ou une technologie similaire. La DLT (ex. la \u00ab blockchain \u00bb) permet le stockage et la transmission des donn\u00e9es cryptographiques par l\u2019inscription dans un registre en ligne qui est une sorte de \u00ab grand livre comptable \u00bb. On dit que cette inscription\/cet enregistrement est “distribu\u00e9” (distributed ledger technology) car le registre (ledger) sur lequel sont inscrites les donn\u00e9es est distribu\u00e9 (distributed) sur plusieurs serveurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Les crypto-actifs ne peuvent donc, par essence, pas \u00eatre d\u00e9pos\u00e9s sur un compte titre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n En revanche, la cl\u00e9 priv\u00e9e qu\u2019un investisseur re\u00e7oit lors de l\u2019acquisition d\u2019une crypto-monnaie peut \u00eatre conserv\u00e9e. La 5e Directive anti-blanchiment pr\u00e9voit \u00e0 cet \u00e9gard une obligation d\u2019immatriculation\/inscription aupr\u00e8s de l\u2019autorit\u00e9 de contr\u00f4le comp\u00e9tente des prestataires<\/strong> qui offrent les \u00ab services de portefeuille de conservation \u00bb, d\u00e9finis comme les services de conservation de cl\u00e9s cryptographiques priv\u00e9es offerts par le prestataire pour le compte de ses clients \u00e0 des fins de d\u00e9tention, de stockage et de transfert de monnaies virtuelles[13]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00ab The ECB does not regard virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin, as full forms of money<\/strong> as defined in economic literature. Virtual currency is also not money or currency from a legal perspective. For the purpose of this report, it is defined as a digital representation of value, not issued by a central bank, credit institution or e-money institution, which in some circumstances can be used as an alternative to money \u00bb<\/em>[14]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00ab Crypto-assets are not banknotes, coins or scriptural money<\/em><\/strong>. For this reason crypto-assets do not fall within the definition of \u2018funds\u2019 set out in point of Article 4 of the PSD2 unless they qualify as \u2018electronic money\u2019 for the purposes of the EMD2 \u00bb<\/em>[15]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ainsi, les crypto-monnaies pourraient \u00eatre qualifi\u00e9es de monnaie \u00e9lectronique<\/strong>. La monnaie \u00e9lectronique est d\u00e9finie comme une valeur mon\u00e9taire r\u00e9pondant aux quatre conditions suivantes :<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ces conditions sont cumulatives, de sorte qu\u2019actuellement, un crypto-actif qui serait \u00e9mis de mani\u00e8re d\u00e9centralis\u00e9e ne r\u00e9pondrait a priori <\/em>pas \u00e0 la d\u00e9finition, \u00e0 d\u00e9faut de repr\u00e9senter une cr\u00e9ance sur un \u00e9metteur. Toutefois, l\u2019EBA a fourni des exemples de certains crypto-actifs qui r\u00e9pondent \u00e0 la d\u00e9finition de monnaie \u00e9lectronique[17]<\/a>[18]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dans cette hypoth\u00e8se, l\u2019offre de services de paiement relatifs \u00e0 de la monnaie \u00e9lectronique est une activit\u00e9 r\u00e9glement\u00e9e ne pouvant \u00eatre exerc\u00e9e que par certains prestataires de services de paiement, dont la liste est vis\u00e9e \u00e0 l\u2019article 5 de la loi du 11 mars 2018 (dont les \u00e9tablissement de cr\u00e9dit).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aucune r\u00e8gle n\u2019est actuellement pr\u00e9vue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Il convient de noter que l\u2019arr\u00eat\u00e9 royal du 24 avril 2014 portant approbation du r\u00e8glement de l\u2019Autorit\u00e9 des services et march\u00e9s financiers concernant l\u2019interdiction de commercialisation de certains produits financiers aupr\u00e8s des clients de d\u00e9tail pr\u00e9voit qu\u2019il est interdit de commercialiser en Belgique, a titre professionnel, aupr\u00e8s d\u2019un ou de plusieurs clients de d\u00e9tail, un produit financier dont le rendement d\u00e9pend directement ou indirectement d\u2019une monnaie virtuelle<\/strong>[19]<\/a> (article 2, 2\u00b0).<\/p>\n\n\n\n En septembre 2020, la Commission europ\u00e9enne a publi\u00e9 son Digital Finance Package[20]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, incluant notamment une proposition de r\u00e8glement relatif au march\u00e9 des crypto-actifs<\/strong> (\u00abMarket in crypto-assets<\/em>\u00bb)[21]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n La Commission pr\u00e9cise que \u00ab this proposal covers crypto-assets falling outside existing EU financial services legislation \u00bb<\/em> et qu\u2019elle souhaite proposer un r\u00e9gime afin de prot\u00e9ger les consommateurs de crypto-monnaies et qu\u2019\u00e0 cette fin, le champ d\u2019application de la l\u00e9gislation \u00e0 venir sera large en telle sorte que les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s actuellement non-r\u00e9glement\u00e9es qui proposent des services relatifs aux crypto-monnaies devraient \u00eatre impact\u00e9es : \u00ab It will cover not only entities issuing crypto-assets but also all firms providing services around these crypto-assets such as, for example, firms that keep customers’ crypto-assets in custody (\u201ccustodian wallets\u201d), entities that allow customers to buy or sell crypto-assets for fiat money or other crypto-assets (\u201ccrypto-asset exchanges\u201d), crypto-asset trading platforms and many more \u00bb<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n La Commission pr\u00e9cise que les prestataires de service de crypto-monnaies devront \u00eatre soumis \u00e0 autorisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n En Belgique<\/strong>, le Conseil des ministres du 18 juin 2021 a approuv\u00e9 un avant-projet de loi et un projet d\u2019arr\u00eat\u00e9 royal relatifs au statut et au contr\u00f4le des prestataires de services d’\u00e9change entre monnaies virtuelles et monnaies l\u00e9gales et des prestataires de services de portefeuilles de conservation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n L’avant-projet de loi vise \u00e0 permettre \u00e0 l’Autorit\u00e9 des services et march\u00e9s financiers (FSMA) de contr\u00f4ler tous les prestataires install\u00e9s sur le territoire belge permettant l\u2019\u00e9change de monnaies virtuelles contre des monnaies l\u00e9gales<\/strong> et d\u2019interdire aux personnes relevant du droit d\u2019un Etat tiers d\u2019offrir, sur le territoire belge des services li\u00e9es aux actifs virtuels. Le projet d’arr\u00eat\u00e9 royal vise \u00e0 d\u00e9terminer les r\u00e8gles et conditions relatives \u00e0 l’inscription, aupr\u00e8s de la FSMA, des prestataires de services li\u00e9s aux actifs virtuels \u00e9tablis sur le territoire belge ainsi que les conditions d’exercice de ces activit\u00e9s et le contr\u00f4le qui leur sont applicables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [1]<\/a> EBA, \u00ab Report with advice for the European Commisison on crypto assets \u00bb, 9 janvier 2019, p. 10 ; ESMA, \u00ab ESMA advice on Initial Coin Offerings and Crypto-Assets \u00bb, 9 janvier 2019, n\u00b0 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [2]<\/a> Art. 3, pt 18, de la directive (UE) 2015\/849 relative \u00e0 la pr\u00e9vention de l\u2019utilisation du syst\u00e8me financier aux fins du blanchiment de capitaux ou du financement du terrorisme telle que modifi\u00e9e par la directive 2018\/843.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [3]<\/a> European Central Bank (ECB), \u00ab Virtual currency schemes \u2013 A further analysis \u00bb, 2015, https:\/\/www.ecb.europa.eu\/pub\/pdf\/other\/virtualcurrencyschemesen<\/a>. pdf<\/p>\n\n\n\n [4]<\/a> EBA Report on crypto-assets, 9 janv. 2019, https:\/\/www.eba.europa.eu\/sites\/default\/documents\/files\/documents\/10180\/2545547\/67493daa-85a8-4429-aa91-e9a5ed880684\/EBA%20Report%20on%20crypto%20assets.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n [5]<\/a> Institutions are required to have robust governance arrangements, which include a clear organisational structure with well-defined transparent and consistent lines of responsibility, effective processes to identify, manage, monitor and report the risks that they are or might be exposed to, adequate internal control mechanisms, including sound administration and accounting procedures and remuneration polices and practices that are consistent with and promote sound and effective risk management. These arrangements, processes and mechanisms are required to be \u2018comprehensive and proportionate to the nature, scale and complexity of the risks inherent in the business model and the institutions\u2019 activities\u2019 \u2013 i.e. including in the context of other business activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [6]<\/a> EBA Report on crypto-assets, 9 janv. 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [7]<\/a> La d\u00e9finition d\u2019instruments financiers ne contient pas de disposition \u00ab catch all \u00bb contrairement \u00e0 la notion d\u2019instrument de placement au sens de la loi prospectus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [8]<\/a> Voy. A. CHAMBEROD, \u00ab Services d\u2019investissement relatifs aux crypto-actifs \u2013 impact pour les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s de bourse \u00bb, Liber amicorum Paul-Alain Foriers<\/em>, Bruxelles, Larcier, 2021, p. 1018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [9]<\/a> La Commission indique ainsi que \u00ab Certains crypto-actifs sont consid\u00e9r\u00e9s comme des instruments financiers au sens de l\u2019article 4, paragraphe 1, point 15), de la directive 2014\/65\/UE \u00bb<\/em> (Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on Markets in Crypto-assets, and amending Directive (EU) 2019\/1937).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [10]<\/a> Selon l\u2019ESMA, \u201cThe outcome of the survey highlighted a NCA majority view that some crypto-assets, e.g. those with profit rights attached, may qualify as transferable <\/em>securities or other types of MiFID financial instruments. The actual classification of a crypto-asset as a financial instrument is the responsibility of an individual NCA and will depend on the specific national implementation of EU law and the information and evidence provided to that NCA\u201d<\/em> (ESMA50-157-1391, 9 january 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [11]<\/sup><\/a> <\/sup>La cryptographie est d\u00e9finie comme \u00ab the conversion of data into private code using encryption algorithms, typically for transmission over a public network \u00bb (ESMA advice on Initial Coin Offerings and Crypto-Assets \u00bb, 9 janvier 2019, Annexe 1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [12]<\/sup><\/a> La DLT est d\u00e9finie comme \u00ab a means of saving information through a distributed ledger, i.e., a repeated digital copy of data available at multiple locations. DLT is built upon public-key cryptography, a cryptographic system that uses pairs of keys : public keys, which are publicly known and essential for identification, and private keys, which are kept secret and are used for authentication and encryption \u00bb (ESMA advice on Initial Coin Offerings and Crypto-Assets, 9 janvier 2019, Annexe 1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [13]<\/sup><\/a> <\/sup>\u201cCustodian wallet provider\u201d means an entity that provides services to safeguard private cryptographic keys on behalf of its customers, to hold, store and transfer virtual currencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [14]<\/a> European Central Bank, \u00ab Virtual currency schemes \u2013 a further analysis \u00bb, February 2015, 4, https:\/\/www.ecb.europa.eu\/pub\/pdf\/other\/virtualcurrencyschemesen.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n [15]<\/a> EBA Report on crypto-assets, 9 janv. 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [16]<\/sup><\/a> <\/sup>Art. 2, 77\u00b0, de la loi du 11 mars 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [17]<\/a> EBA, \u00ab Report with advice for the European Commission on crypto assets \u00bb, pr\u00e9c., p. 13, qui fournit notamment l\u2019exemple suivant de crypto-actif constituant de la monnaie \u00e9lectronique : \u00ab Company B looks to create an e-money platform based on DLT that uses \u201csmart contracts\u201d to transfer donations to a charity. Upon receipt of the fiat donations in a segregated bank account at a financial institution, the firm creates a token<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n representing exactly the received amount. This token is then deposited in the donor\u2019s wallet, ready to be pledged to a specific charity or redeemed at par value. Instead of an instant transfer from the donor to the charity, the tokens are only released to the charity (via the use of \u201csmart contracts\u201d) once pre-agreed conditions are met by the charity and validated by an independent third party. The charity would then receive tokens that could be redeemed at the issuer (in this case Company B), at par value upon request, effectively resulting in a fiat fund wire transfer to the charity via traditional payment rails. This network would be accessible only by verified users. The tokens are not openly tradable on secondary markets. As with the previous example, this token satisfies the criteria of e-money as set out in the EMD2 <\/em>\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [18]<\/sup><\/a> En revanche, la Commission indique que \u201cDespite their similarities, electronic money and crypto-assets referencing a single fiat currency differ in some important aspects<\/em> (\u2026)\u201d(Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on Markets in Crypto-assets, and amending Directive (EU) 2019\/1937, recital 10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [19]<\/sup><\/a> <\/sup>La monnaie virtuelle est d\u00e9finie comme \u00e9tant \u00ab toute forme de monnaie digitale non r\u00e9glement\u00e9e qui n\u2019a pas cours l\u00e9gal \u00bb<\/em> (article 1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [20]<\/a> https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/info\/publications\/200924-digital-finance-proposals_en<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nII. Aspects r\u00e9glementaires de droit belge li\u00e9 aux crypto-monnaies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Remarque pr\u00e9liminaire<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Questions juridiques sp\u00e9cifiques sur les crypto-monnaies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Est-ce-que une crypto-monnaie peut \u00eatre vue comme un instrument financier ?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Quelles sont les r\u00e8gles applicables \u00e0 la d\u00e9tention de crypto-monnaie au nom des clients. Peut-on conserver des crypto-monnaies sur un compte-titres ?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Quelles sont les r\u00e8gles applicables au paiement (ou facilitation du paiement) en crypto-devises<\/strong> \/ crypto-monnaies ?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
L\u2019 \u00ab investissement \u00bb en crypto-monnaies au travers de diff\u00e9rents v\u00e9hicules (fonds, ETF, Gestion,\u2026)<\/strong> ?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
III. Projet de r\u00e9glementation des crypto-monnaies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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