In this Master's thesis, I have compared and found that the processes of initial public offerings and initial coin offerings are similar in many aspects. Initial public offerings are no longer reserved for established and successful companies, nor are initial coin offerings only carried out by start-up companies. Furthermore, I have noticed that the prospectus and the white paper are similar in many aspects, with the white paper information being even more complex in certain segments.
Shares and cryptocurrencies create different effects in terms of ownership in the company, accounting valuation and presentation in the financial statements, and on winding-up.
The EU is working to create a capital markets union, but I believe that it has not been fully implemented because the Member States do not have a uniform interpretation of financial instruments. As a result, since some crypto-assets mimic the characteristics of financial instruments, this leads to different approaches by Member States in dealing with crypto-assets. In the absence of a true union and market unity, the MiCA Regulation will not be able to address the inefficiencies already created. This raises questions as to how to address and fill the relevant grey areas in Member States' approaches so as not to discourage firms from conducting initial coin offerings and creating innovation within the EU market.
I believe that the EU has rushed to regulate crypto-assets due to the fear of the negative impact of cryptocurrencies on the effective conduct of monetary policy, the stability of (fiat) currencies, and also the creation of a parallel virtual economy. Certain cryptocurrencies can act as virtual currencies and investments at the same time. Shares, on the other hand, can at most perform the function of an investment but are not perceived as a form of any currency.
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