On October 25, The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) announced the publication of notices on ICOs and cryptocurrency services alongside online resources for investors.
The extent to which an ICO is regulated depends whether the token offered to the public is one of the four 'financial product' set out by the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 (FMC Act) debt securities, equity securities, managed investment products and derivatives. In one of those cases the issuer must comply with similar obligation : to register a product disclosure statement (PDS), to appoint a licensed supervisor, to have a trust deed hat sets out investor rights and the supervisor's role and to meet financial reporting and fair dealing obligations.
For businesses and individuals offering services such as cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets and broking, the FMA's paper sets out the following obligations :
- must be a member of a dispute resolution scheme
- must be on the Financial Services Providers Register
- must comply with fair dealing provisions in the Financial Markets Conduct Act
