As the MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulation progressively enters into force across the European Union, the crypto-asset sector is entering a new era: one of transparency and compliance. The Wild West days of digital markets are over — service providers must now integrate a comprehensive market abuse framework into their operations.
A Framework Inspired by Traditional Financial Markets
The Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) has long been limited to financial instruments. MiCA fills this gap by extending MAR's logic to crypto-assets that do not qualify as financial instruments. In practice, this means that behaviors such as:
- market manipulation (wash trading, spoofing, pump and dump),
- the dissemination of misleading information,
- or insider trading
are now strictly regulated and subject to sanctions.
A New Obligation: The Anti-Market Abuse Surveillance Tool
At the latest AMF Fintech Forum, regulators were unequivocal:
every service provider subject to MiCA will be required to have a market abuse detection and prevention tool in place.
This requirement is no longer a mere recommendation. The AMF now considers the presence of an anti-market abuse tool mandatory for entities offering crypto-asset services — in addition to existing internal policies already in place. This tool must be capable of identifying, alerting on, and documenting suspicious behavior on platforms, as well as across customer wallets. That said, not all CASPs are treated equally: a Bitcoin DCA platform will not face the same requirements as a systemic exchange.
What This Means for Crypto Players
Digital asset service providers (PSANs) and future Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) must now:
- establish internal control procedures,
- deploy a technological solution tailored to their activity and scale,
- train their teams on detection and incident escalation.
The stakes go beyond regulatory compliance: it is also a signal of trust for users and institutional partners.
At Seqlense, we anticipated this shift by integrating a comprehensive transaction surveillance and behavioral analysis module into our platform. Our solution combines automated detection of manipulation signals with MiCA-compliant reporting, helping crypto players stay fully aligned with regulatory expectations.
Click HERE to download the Seqlense MABU solution brochure: https://seqlense.com/download