MiCA Compliance for Banks. A Practical Guide to Digital Asset Custody and Stablecoin Issuance - Alessio Faccia

MiCA Compliance for Banks is a practical guide to Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets, written for banks, compliance officers, risk managers, internal auditors, legal teams, treasury teams, technology leaders, and senior management dealing with digital asset custody and stablecoin issuance.

The book explains how MiCA affects banks that plan to provide crypto-asset custody, digital asset transfer services, e-money token issuance, asset-referenced token issuance, reserve asset management, wallet infrastructure, private key controls, client asset protection, and regulatory reporting.

Rather than treating MiCA as an abstract legal text, this guide translates the Regulation into practical banking controls. It explains how banks should classify crypto-assets, identify MiCA-regulated activities, map crypto-asset service provider obligations, prepare notification files, draft white papers, manage reserve assets, protect client holdings, control wallet access, test redemption rights, and maintain evidence for supervisory reviews.

The book gives particular attention to custody services. It discusses custody models, client asset segregation, omnibus and segregated wallets, private key management, hot and cold wallet controls, cyber security, incident response, sub-custody, outsourcing, client agreements, liability, audit trails, and operational resilience. It helps banks understand why crypto custody differs from traditional securities custody and why control over private keys or wallet access creates regulated responsibility.

The stablecoin chapters focus on the two key MiCA categories: asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens. The book explains the difference between token structures that reference one official currency and token structures that reference baskets of assets, rights, currencies, or other values. It covers authorisation, white papers, reserve assets, reserve custody, redemption rights, no-interest rules, holder disclosures, liquidity risk, public reporting, reserve audits, recovery planning, and ongoing supervision.

MiCA Compliance for Banks also provides implementation roadmaps. It includes a MiCA readiness assessment for banks, a compliance roadmap for custody services, a compliance roadmap for stablecoin issuance, a control testing model, documentation standards, audit trails, regulatory engagement steps, and continuous compliance practices.

This book is designed for readers who need a clear, professional, and operational guide to MiCA in banking. It supports practical decision-making for institutions entering digital asset markets, preparing for supervisory review, building custody infrastructure, issuing stable-value tokens, or strengthening compliance programmes.