GLOSSARY · BLOCKCHAIN & WEB3
Whitepaper (MiCA)
What the crypto-asset white paper is under MiCA: mandatory content, notification to the supervisor and the issuer's liability.
WHAT IS IT? · FOR DUMMIES
Under MiCA, the whitepaper stopped being the marketing PDF of the ICO era: it is a regulated document with mandatory content that the issuer must notify to the supervisor before offering a crypto-asset to the public in the EU — and for which it is legally liable.
WHAT IS IT? · PRO
The MiCA crypto-asset white paper requires information on the issuer, the project, the rights and obligations of the token, the underlying technology and the risks — in clear language and without claims about future value that cannot be substantiated. It is notified to the competent authority (in Spain, depending on the crypto-asset, the CNMV or the Bank of Spain) and marketing communications must be consistent with its content — the direct link with the crypto advertising rules.
The usual boundary applies here too: if the token is a financial instrument, no MiCA whitepaper will do — the document is the securities-market prospectus. Classify first, document later: the classifier resolves the doubt in a minute.
01 / Key points
- Mandatory MiCA document to offer crypto-assets in the EU
- Prescribed content: issuer, project, rights, technology, risks
- Notified to the supervisor; the issuer is liable for its content
- If the token is a security, what applies is a prospectus, not a whitepaper
02 / Advantages
- Consistent, enforceable information for the buyer
- Notification, not prior approval: an agile process
- Disciplines advertising: marketing must be consistent
03 / Disadvantages
- Legal liability for omissions or false statements
- Not a prospectus: less protection than in securities
- Real drafting work that many projects underestimate