Consumer Protection in the Crypto Financial Market

p class="MsoNormal"The protection of consumers and users of payment tokens is the subject of a plurality of European disciplines. There is a need to understand whether and how these disciplines can be coordinated with each other. p class="MsoNormal"This article analyses the disciplines contained in the: (i) Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights; (ii) Directive 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 concerning the distance marketing of consumer financial services which will remain in force until 18 June 2026; (iii) Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market and (iv) EU Regulation 2023/1114 of 31 May 2023 on markets in crypto-assets, and amending Regulations (EU) No 1093/2010 and (EU) No 1095/2010 and Directives 2013/36/EU and (EU) 2019/1937 (MiCAR). p class="MsoNormal"I believe that previous Directives and MiCAR are partly overlapping and partly complementary. In MiCAR the European legislator has deliberately followed, with regard to information obligations, the approach of the directives we have dealt with here. Compliance with MiCAR, therefore, determines, with reference to the profile of disclosure and form obligations, compliance also with the directives set up to protect (also) the consumer. At present, withdrawal remains governed by the consumer directives.