Fidelio Tata, PhD⎢MiCA CASP CPD Training

Compre­hen­sive CPD Training for CASPs:
ESMA Know­ledge & Com­pe­tence Guide­lines

My CPD training pro­grams are ex­plicit­ly mapped to ESMA’s Guide­lin­es for the cri­teria on the assess­ment of know­ledge and com­pe­tence under the Markets in Cryp­to‑As­sets Re­gu­la­tion (MiCA) (Final Re­port ESMA35‑1872330276‑2380 of 11 July 2025 and Guide­lines ESMA35‑24871704‑2922, going into effect on 27 July 2026).

I pro­vide struc­tured, role‑based training that equips staff with the re­gu­la­tory know­ledge, prac­ti­cal skills, and com­pe­tencies neces­sary to meet super­visory ex­pec­ta­tions across all EU juris­dic­tions and to do­cu­ment com­pliance with Artic­les 68 and 81 MiCA. Each train­ing en­ga­ge­ment in­cludes a do­cu­ment­ed Re­gu­la­tory Compliance Pack, de­liver­ing evi­dence of staff learn­ing and CPD par­ti­ci­pa­tion, audit‑ready re­ports, and com­pe­tency assess­ments, so that your CASP can de­monstra­te ad­heren­ce to ESMA stand­ards during inter­nal re­views and super­vi­sory in­spec­tions.

View my CASP CPD MiCA train­ing sample pro­po­sal

BACK­GROUND: ESMA KNOW­LEDGE & COM­PE­TENCE GUIDE­LINES

On 11 July 2025, the Euro­pean Se­cu­ri­ties and Markets Au­tho­rity (ESMA) pub­lished Guide­lines for the cri­te­ria on the assess­ment of knowledge and com­pe­tence under the Markets in Cryp­to‑Assets Re­gu­la­tion (MiCA). These Guide­lines set out mi­ni­mum ex­pec­ta­tions for quali­fi­ca­tions, pro­fessional ex­pe­rience and con­tinuous pro­fessional de­velop­ment (CPD) for staff pro­vi­ding in­for­ma­tion or ad­vice on cryp­to‑assets and cryp­to‑asset ser­vi­ces to clients. The official trans­la­tions into all EU languages were pub­lished on ESMA’s web­site on 28 January 2026, start­ing a two‑month period during which com­pe­tent autho­ri­ties had to notify ESMA whether they comply or in­tend to comply with the Guide­lines. The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has declared the ESMA guidelines to be directly applicable. The guidelines will take effect on July 27, 2026 (six months after the publication of the translations).

MINIMUM PRO­FESSIO­NAL QUALI­FI­CATION FOR CASP STAFF

ESMA ex­pects, among other routes for staff to gain appro­priate knowledge, that CASP staff giving in­for­ma­tion about cryp­to‑assets or cryp­to‑asset ser­vices complete at least 80 hours of pro­fessional qua­li­fi­cation, and that staff giving ad­vice complete at least 160 hours, be­fore pro­viding such in­for­ma­tion or ad­vice. This should be evi­denced by passing an assess­ment con­ducted either by the cryp­to‑asset ser­vice pro­vider itself or by an ex­ternal body.

CPD RE­QUIRE­MENTS TO MAIN­TAIN KNOW­LED­GE AND COM­PE­TENCE

ESMA ex­pects that CASPs deter­mine the ad­equate mi­ni­mum number of CPD hours per year that staff pro­viding in­for­ma­tion or ad­vice on cryp­to‑assets or cryp­to‑asset ser­vices should complete, taking into account the na­ture and com­plexi­ty of the assets and ser­vices con­cerned as well as staff’s existing knowledge and ex­perience. Even staff pro­vi­ding in­for­ma­tion or ad­vice on a limited range of the least complex cryp­to‑assets or cryp­to‑asset services should complete at least 10 or 20 hours of CPD per year, respecti­ve­ly, with CPD in­cluding veri­fi­ca­tion of the par­ti­ci­pants’ knowledge and compe­tence rather than mere attendance.

WHY CPD MUST BE TAILORED TO EACH CASP

ESMA con­firms that staff pro­viding in­for­ma­tion must de­monstrate the necessary knowledge and com­pe­tence only for the cryp­to‑assets and cryp­to‑asset services actually offered by the CASP, not for all cryp­to‑assets that are techni­cally within the scope of the ser­vice. CPD must there­fore be adapted to each CASP’s spe­ci­fic business model. When de­signing CPD, CASPs should take into account existing staff knowledge and compe­tence, re­gu­la­tory changes, key market de­velop­ments and newly emerging techno­lo­gies.

WHY CASPs SHOULD PLAN­ THEIR CPD PRO­GRAMS EARLY

The Guide­lines will apply from 27 July 2026. Imple­menting a firm‑wide CPD pro­gramme typically re­quires three to six months of lead time, in­cluding identi­fying staff in scope, scheduling on‑site and webinar‑based sessions, and pre­paring or customising training ma­terials. CASPs that start planning early can phase in training, testing and do­cu­menta­tion rather than com­pressing every­thing into the months immediately before the appli­ca­tion date.

HOW CASPs SHOULD REVIEW STAFF CRYPTO-ASSET COM­PE­TENCE

ESMA re­quires CASPs to carry out at least annual in­ter­nal or ex­ter­nal re­views of their staff members’ de­velop­ment and ex­perience needs, to assess re­gu­la­tory develop­ments and to take the necessary action to comply with applicable re­quire­ments. These re­views should en­sure that staff hold appro­priate quali­fi­ca­tions and main­tain and up­date their knowledge and com­pe­tence through con­tinuous pro­fessional de­velop­ment or training, in line with the mi­ni­mum guidance set out in the Guide­lines, and should in­clude specific training before any new type of cryp­to‑asset or cryp­to‑asset service is offered.

MY OFFER: ESMA MICA KNOW­LEDGE AND COM­PE­TENCE TRAIN­ING FOR CASPs

Based on more than 30 years of pro­fessional ex­perience as a lecturer and the customised training pro­grammes I have already de­livered for CASPs, I offer tailored CPD training services to support CASPs in meeting ESMA’s knowledge and com­pe­tence ex­pecta­tions under the MiCA Regulation, in­cluding:

• Con­ducting skills gap assess­ments to identi­fy training needs aligned with staff roles and MiCA com­pe­tence re­quire­ments
• De­signing custom­ized training pro­grams ca­li­bra­ted to CASP business models and the na­ture of crypto assets and services
• De­li­vering role‑based training mo­dules that build re­gu­la­tory know­ledge, prac­ti­cal skills, and super­visory aware­ness
• Fa­ci­li­ta­ting inter­active learning ex­periences through work­shops, case studies, and compe­te­ncy assess­ments
• Pro­vi­ding docu­mented evi­dence of CPD en­ga­ge­ment, in­cluding cer­ti­fi­cates, assess­ments, and par­ti­ci­pa­tion re­cords
• Main­taining a re­gu­la­tory audit trail and CPD do­cu­menta­tion via a com­pre­hen­sive Re­gu­la­tory Com­pliance Pack that supports super­vi­sory review and in­ter­nal com­pliance re­port­ing, in­clu­ding:
• Mapped CPD hours linked to ESMA MiCA know­ledge & com­pe­tence ex­pec­ta­tions
• Audit-ready evi­dence in PDF/Excel
• Role-based com­pe­tency out­comes
• Super­visory sub­mis­sion support ma­terials;
• Pre­pa­ring post‑training com­pe­ten­cy re­ports sum­ma­riz­ing out­comes, com­pliance map­ping, and re­com­mended next steps

Continuing Pro­fessio­nal De­velop­ment (CPD) is essen­tial for Crypto-Asset Ser­vice Pro­viders (CASPs) under MiCA, en­suring staff main­tain up-to-date know­ledge of cryp­to-as­sets, ser­vices, and re­gu­la­tory re­quire­ments. My MiCA CPD train­ing helps CASPs meet ESMA guide­lines, com­bining role-based modules with audit-ready do­cu­men­ta­tion.

The training is de­signed to re­flect both ESMA and re­le­vant national com­pe­tent autho­rity ex­pecta­tions on staff com­pe­tence and on­going edu­ca­tion. Parti­ci­pants build the ca­pa­bili­ties needed for MiCA‑com­pliant initial quali­fi­cation and annual CPD, supported by audit‑ready do­cu­menta­tion and clearly evidenced learning out­comes.

View a sample pro­po­sal with de­tailed course in­for­ma­tion