Italy’s Legislative Decree No. 129/2024 is the national implementing decree for the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, known as MiCAR. Published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on Sept. 13, 2024 and in force from Sept. 14, 2024, it adapts Italian financial law to the EU framework for crypto-asset issuance, crypto-asset services, stablecoin-style tokens, market-abuse rules, supervision, and sanctions. As of July 21, 2026, the decree is treated as in force, with the national VASP transition period ended after June 30, 2026.
What the Italian MiCAR decree does
The decree is not a separate Italian crypto code. It supplies the domestic machinery needed for MiCAR to operate in Italy: national competent authorities, cooperation rules, supervisory and investigative powers, authorization routing, local transition rules, and penalties. It applies alongside MiCAR’s EU-level obligations and related technical standards, rather than replacing them.
For CryptoSlate readers, the practical significance is jurisdictional. The decree identifies which Italian authority handles different MiCAR tasks and how legacy virtual-asset operators moved from Italy’s pre-MiCAR registration model toward the EU CASP authorization model. It also coordinates MiCAR with existing Italian banking, payments, securities, AML, and market-supervision statutes.
Competent authorities under Italy’s MiCAR framework
Article 3 designates Consob and Banca d’Italia as Italy’s national competent authorities under MiCAR. Consob is assigned core roles for offers and admissions of crypto-assets other than asset-referenced tokens or e-money tokens, and for market-abuse supervision. Banca d’Italia has core responsibilities for e-money tokens. Both authorities share roles for asset-referenced tokens and crypto-asset service providers.
The allocation reflects the authorities’ established mandates. Consob’s remit is centered on transparency, conduct, orderly trading, and client protection, while Banca d’Italia focuses on risk containment, capital soundness, operational organization, payment-system concerns, and sound and prudent management. The decree also allows the authorities to issue implementing provisions within their respective areas.
CASP authorization and supervision
The decree maps MiCAR authorization and notification channels by entity type. Specialized crypto-asset service providers generally interact with Consob for authorization, with Banca d’Italia heard on relevant prudential issues. Banks, certain investment firms, e-money institutions, payment institutions, asset managers, central securities depositories, and regulated market operators follow different notification or authorization paths depending on the activity and their existing regulated status.
For ongoing supervision, the decree splits conduct and prudential oversight. Consob supervises areas such as acting honestly, fairly, and professionally in clients’ best interests, complaint handling, conflicts of interest, recordkeeping, and service-specific transparency. Banca d’Italia supervises capital adequacy, risk containment, governance, internal controls, outsourcing, business continuity, and safeguarding of client crypto-assets and funds.
Stablecoins, token issuance, and market abuse
For asset-referenced tokens, Banca d’Italia authorizes issuance, public offers, and admission to trading in agreement with Consob. For e-money tokens, the decree coordinates MiCAR with Italy’s banking law and e-money rules, including provisions applicable to banks and electronic-money institutions. Consob receives key powers over offers and admissions of crypto-assets outside the ART and EMT categories.
The decree also implements MiCAR’s market-abuse architecture in Italy. Consob receives powers tied to Title VI of MiCAR, including powers connected to delayed disclosure of inside information. The text also contains criminal and administrative sanctions for unauthorized activity and violations of provisions cross-referenced from MiCAR.
Status, transition, and editorial posture
The original transition regime in Article 45 allowed qualifying OAM-registered virtual-asset operators to continue temporarily while seeking MiCAR authorization. Decree-Law No. 95/2025, later converted by Law No. 118/2025, extended the key Italian transition dates: applications could be filed by Dec. 30, 2025, and qualifying operators could continue no later than June 30, 2026 or until authorization or refusal. Banca d’Italia and Consob later stated that the transition ended from July 1, 2026.
This profile should be read as a legal-reference summary for news and research purposes, not as legal, tax, investment, or compliance advice. Editors should review later amendments, regulator notices, ESMA register data, and Consob or Banca d’Italia implementing measures before publication updates.