How Should Crypto Lending Be Regulated Under EU Law?

Abstract

The collapse of Genesis is the latest in a cascade of failures of crypto lenders. The last year has seen numerous major crypto lenders, such as Celsius, Voyager and BlockFi, going out of business in domino-like fashion. The failures have revealed the vulnerabilities of crypto-market lenders’ business model, most notably the liquidity and maturity mismatches in their loan portfolios, and their markedly weak corporate governance. The present article explores avenues to regulate crypto lending within the framework of EU financial services regulation. It argues that crypto lenders should be taken as falling within the definition of credit institutions under EU law, and thus, as a result, should be subject to the stringent licensing and prudential requirements introduced by the Capital Requirements Directive and Regulation.