EU’s ESMA Warns of ‘Opaque’ Crypto Firms as It Seeks to Close MiCA Loopholes

“Opaque group structures may also render it difficult for clients of service providers to know which entity they are dealing with and its regulatory status,” ESMA said in a statement today, adding that some existing crypto companies “may lack a strong compliance culture … and their large scale and geographic scope allow them to maintain a high level of agility in terms of where they can operate, increasing the risk of conflicts of interest, regulatory arbitrage and an unlevel playing field.”