How MICA May Impact the Digital Fashion Industry?
The fashion industry should take note of MICA for a number of reasons. First, the creation of utility fungible tokens, like tokens incorporating the right to a discount or the right of participation to an event, will fall under the scope of MICA. Second, also the issuance of fungible tokens to create a system of reward for the use of gamification in fashion will still fall under the scope of MICA. Last but not least, it will be very much important to determine when “NFTs”, beyond their names or the fact that technically are ERC721, might substantially be considered under MICA as “fungible tokens which, as such, will require an authorization from a NCA. Under MICA, for example, the iconic Bored Apes Yacht Club project will most likely be considered a project of fungible tokens and, as such, subject to the MICA regulatory regime.
MICA is only for EU Based Projects?
MICA is primarily applicable to all EU based companies which will then have to make an initial regulatory analysis under MICA before starting a project involving the issuance of fungible or non-fungible tokens (in this latter case, to prior determine that the tokens at issue will be considered non-fungible also by NCAs under MICA). However, non-EU based companies as far as they will sell their tokens to EU clients (which is most likely, considering that the 27 Member States make the biggest world consumers market) will still be subject to MICA unless they can rely on the so-called reverse solicitation which means that the EU resident client has directly solicited the sale of the token. In other words, if non-EU based companies market their tokens in the EU (i.e. the solicit EU clients) will still be subject to MICA.
In conclusion, the digital fashion industry should take note of MICA and structure the current and future projects in order to comply with this important new regulatory regime which is probably deemed to be the new world standard for the regulation of tokens.