Gide advised Flowdesk on its payment institution authorization
Gide advised Flowdesk’s European entity, Flowdesk Europe, in connection with obtaining a payment institution authorization from the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR), enabling it to provide payment services related to electronic money tokens (stablecoins pegged to an official currency) within the meaning of the MiCA Regulation.
Founded in France, Flowdesk is a group specializing in liquidity, trading and technological infrastructure to crypto-assets issuers, financial institutions, trading venues and professional investors.
This authorization marks a new milestone in the development of Flowdesk’s regulated activities in Europe and complements the crypto-asset service provider (CASP) authorization obtained in June.
It enables Flowdesk Europe to provide payment services relating to electronic money tokens (“electronic money tokens” or “EMTs”, also commonly referred to within the industry as stablecoins), under its CASP license and for the provision of crypto-asset custody and administration services, as well as crypto-asset transfer services on behalf of clients.
EMTs, which constitute a category of crypto-assets designed to maintain a stable value by reference to an official currency, play a central role in the new European regulatory framework applicable to crypto-assets. Their use is expanding rapidly, particularly among institutional market participants, for settlement, treasury management and value transfer purposes on blockchain infrastructures.
Obtaining this authorization therefore enables Flowdesk to strengthen its regulatory framework in the crypto-asset sector and support the development of services related to this specific category of instruments.
Gide advised Flowdesk on all regulatory aspects of the project, including the structuring of the project, the preparation of the license application and interactions with the competent authorities.
The Gide team consisted of partner Olivier Bernardi, Head of Fintech Franck Guiader, counsel John Le Guen and associate Théo Leguèbe.
