The Central Bank of Italy will issue guidelines for encryption assets

Fabio Panetta, Governor of the Central Bank of Italy, said on Tuesday that the Central Bank of Italy will issue guidelines in the coming days on how to apply the upcoming EU encryption asset rules to ensure the normal operation of the payment system. In a speech to the Italian Banking Association (ABI), Panetta stated that the EU regulations known as the Market in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) consider Electronic Money Tokens (EMTs) and Asset-Reference Tokens (ARTs) to meet the requirements for use as a means of payment. The value of EMTs is linked to the value of a single official currency, while the value of ARTs depends on one or more underlying assets. Panetta said, ‘Our assessment is that the only tool that can be used as a means of payment and fully maintain public trust is EMTs, which can be issued by banks or electronic money institutions.’