ICO's encouraged by New Zealand's Financial Market Authority (FMA)
On the 25th of October New Zealand's Financial Market Authority (FMA) has published an official document surrounding compliance with Initial Coin Offers (ICO's).
For those who are unaware, an ICO is a launch of a new cryptocurrency token and is similar to the share market equivalent IPO's.
The FMA outlines to what extent an ICO will be regulated and this is all dependent on what type of financial product it is considered at the time of launch. In other words, there is no hard and fast rule for every ICO.
Outlined in the document are the obligations required to be met by New Zealand based cryptocurrency issuers. These include:
being a member of a dispute resolution scheme if the financial services are provided to retail clients
be registered on the Financial Service Providers Register
pay the applicable fees and levies for the relevant categories of financial service you provide
comply with the fair dealing provisions in Part 2 of the FMC Act. (no misleading or deceptive statements)
comply with anti-money laundering obligations.
The FMA then go on to state that they are aiming to help by providing innovation and flexibility in New Zealand's financial markets. This includes monitoring and considering additional regulatory support to the sector as it grows.
In a positive move the FMA also ask the cryptocurrency community to propose alternative ways to regulate tokens effectively going into the future. They conclude by saying they want to make the ICO markets work to ensure innovation within the country and to enhance New Zealand's financial market reputation.
With the Bitcoin price recently breaking through the $10 000 NZD mark and the positive reception the FMA has displayed, will New Zealand's cryptocurrency community continue to grow from it's strong, already existing roots?
The stance from the recent change of Government will go a long way to answering that question.
By Andrew Butler – CryptoCult
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