Italy regulates a broad range of financial activities. These include, among others, the following:

• Accepting deposits – This covers the acquisition of funds with a repayment obligation in the form of deposits or in any other form.
• Issuing electronic money – Electronic money is a prepaid electronic payment product that can be a card- or account-based.
• Carrying out payment services – This covers a broad range of activities involving matters such as execution of credit transfers, operating a payment account, execution of payment transactions, transfer of funds and the execution of direct debits.
• Granting of financing – This covers the granting of financing, in any form, to the public and includes loans, finance leases, factoring, and issuance of guarantees and performance bonds.
• Investment consultancy – This activity covers the provision of advice on the merits of acquiring or disposing of particular investments.
• Reception and transmission of orders – This covers both the reception and the transmission of orders by the client regarding the subscription and the buying and selling of financial instruments.

On 20 February 2024, the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) launched a public consultation on draft legislative decrees concerning the alignment of Italian domestic legislation with, respectively: (i) Regulation (EU) No. 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); and (ii) Regulation (EU) No. 1113 of 31 May 2023, on information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets and amending Directive (EU) 2015/849 (TFR). 

In particular, the draft legislative decree aligning Italian domestic legislation with the MiCAR provides for the following:

• Identification of the national authorities competent for the supervision on the crypto-assets space and related services
• Establishment of the authorization procedures for the issuance of tokens
• Introduction of specific provisions for issuers of asset-referenced token (ART Issuers) and crypto-asset service providers (CASPs)
• Adoption of dedicated provisions regulating the voluntary liquidation and crisis of ART Issuers and CASPs that are not subject to specific provisions by virtue of their status as regulated entities
• Repealing of provisions introducing the current regulatory framework for providers of services relating to the use of virtual currencies and custodian wallet providers
• The draft legislative decree aligning Italian domestic legislation with the TFR provides for the following:
• Qualification of CASPs as obliged subjects, under the category of banking and financial intermediaries, for the purpose of the application of Legislative Decree No. 231 of 21 November 2007 (Italian AML Decree) and implementing regulations issued by the Bank of Italy 
• Attribution to the Bank of Italy of supervisory powers on CASPs for AML purposes
• Repealing of provisions introducing the current AML framework for service providers relating to virtual currencies and custodian wallet providers

The deadline for the submission of observations expired on 22 March 2024.