{"id":75140,"date":"2026-07-08T21:16:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/esma-says-eu-retail-ban-covers-many-prediction-markets-with-mica-awaiting-the-tokenized-ones\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T21:16:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:16:37","slug":"esma-says-eu-retail-ban-covers-many-prediction-markets-with-mica-awaiting-the-tokenized-ones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/esma-says-eu-retail-ban-covers-many-prediction-markets-with-mica-awaiting-the-tokenized-ones\/","title":{"rendered":"ESMA Says EU Retail Ban Covers Many Prediction Markets, With MiCA Awaiting the Tokenized Ones"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"@container mb-[25px] rounded-sm overflow-clip py-0.5 pr-0.5 pl-2.5 bg-success-100\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col gap-m overflow-clip rounded-[6px] !bg-success-10 p-3 @[420px]:p-m\">\n<h2 class=\"m-0 flex items-center gap-s text-[19px] !text-[#1c1c1c] md:text-[20px]\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"10\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 10\" fill=\"none\" class=\"shrink-0 text-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M1 1.5h14\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M1 8.5h10\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><\/svg><span>Key Takeaways<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul class=\"m-0 flex list-none flex-col gap-m pl-0\">\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">ESMA said event contracts that qualify as financial instruments are already barred from EU retail sale under binary-options rules.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">The prohibition rests on national measures in force since 2018, so no new legislation is required to apply it.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Two regulatory tracks, both already in force<\/h2>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/esma-warns-prediction-market-platforms-could-face-strict-eu-financial-regulations\/\">public statement issued on July 3<\/a>, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) set out how existing EU law applies to event contracts, the yes-or-no instruments underpinning <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/what-are-prediction-markets\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">prediction markets<\/a>. Its central conclusion is that many of these contracts are not a novel product category requiring new rules, but already fall within measures on the books \u2013 a point that goes further than framing the issue as future regulatory risk.<\/p>\n<p>ESMA\u2019s reasoning is that event contracts whose underlying question relates to an asset listed in Section C(4) to (10) of Annex I of MiFID II \u2013 the directive\u2019s derivatives categories \u2013 count as financial instruments. Where a contract does qualify, ESMA said, it \u201cclassify as derivatives and, given the binary outcome, fall within the scope of the existing national product intervention measures on binary options adopted by Member State competent authorities prohibiting their marketing, distribution or sale to retail clients.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Binary options have been effectively banned for retail investors across the EU since 2018, when ESMA introduced a temporary intervention that member-state regulators subsequently made permanent through their own national measures.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, ESMA now noted that event contracts that are tokenized and do not qualify as financial instruments may instead fall under the EU\u2019s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. This carries its own authorization and disclosure requirements. Some event contracts could also fall under national gambling law, depending on how a given member state treats them.<\/p>\n<p>As ATH21 chief executive Cris Carrascosa stated <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CarrascosaCris_\/status\/2073121459023597911\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">on social media<\/a>, the statement was less a new restriction than a reminder of the existing law\u2019s reach, meaning the real difficulty for firms lies in the upfront, case-by-case analysis of a product\u2019s actual characteristics rather than its label.<\/p>\n<p>For platforms with European ambitions, ESMA has narrowed the options to restructuring products so they fall outside financial-instrument classification, obtaining MiFID II authorization, or accepting that the EU retail market stays closed unless further compliance moves are made.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/esma-says-eu-retail-ban-covers-many-prediction-markets-with-mica-awaiting-the-tokenized-ones\/\">Source link <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News ) Key Takeaways ESMA said event contracts that qualify as financial instruments are already barred from EU retail sale under binary-options rules. The prohibition rests on national measures in force since 2018, so no new legislation is required to apply it. Two regulatory tracks, both already in force In [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3947362403,"featured_media":75141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75140"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3947362403"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}