Fidelio Tata, Ph.D.⎢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, appli­ca­ble six months after their publi­ca­tion on ESMA’s web­site in all EU langua­ges).

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 must notify ESMA whether they comply or in­tend to comply with the Guide­lines, which will apply six months after 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 28 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