Rome

The Rome DARTE session took place on December 4th, 2025, at the headquarters of UNIDROIT, in collaboration with the European Commission, UNIDROIT, and Bybit EU. This edition focused on the intersection of private law and digital asset infrastructure, highlighting how civil law principles must evolve to support crypto-asset innovation, while reinforcing DARTE’s core mission of building legal clarity and cross-border operability in the digital economy.

The roundtable gathered regulators, legal scholars, and industry leaders to examine the foundational legal building blocks of the crypto-asset ecosystem particularly in the context of MiCAR implementation and the recently adopted UNIDROIT Principles on Digital Assets and Private Law. The session opened with a keynote by Ignacio Tirado, Secretary-General of UNIDROIT, who emphasized the need to embed distributed ledger systems within trusted legal traditions. He warned that records on a blockchain, unless tethered to enforceable private law concepts, cannot serve as reliable legal rights. Tirado called for stronger integration between technological frameworks and private law institutions, with particular attention to custody, control, and ownership.

Georg Harer (Bybit EU) initiated the substantive discussions with an in-depth analysis of the disconnect between MiCAR’s regulatory obligations and the fragmented private law landscape governing crypto-asset ownership and transfer. He proposed a sector-specific harmonization instrument, akin to the Financial Collateral Directive, to bridge the gap between compliance and enforceability. Tomáš Kozárek (Ministry of Industry and Trade, Czech Republic) followed with a critical look at the legal implications of the “control” concept in civil law systems. He highlighted the challenges of incorporating this technical notion into jurisdictions where legal title and possession are tightly codified, and stressed the need for flexible interpretative tools, including analogies and soft-law guidance. Finally, Tecla Rodi (Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance) presented Italy’s Fintech Decree as a case study for integrating digital asset principles into national frameworks. She explored how DLT-based securities can be made compatible with traditional book-entry systems, while pointing to unresolved issues in collateral management, ledger-based registration, and cross-border enforceability.

The Rome edition reinforced DARTE’s commitment to convening legal and regulatory experts to resolve foundational questions around digital asset infrastructure. As distributed technologies reshape financial markets, the session underscored the importance of private law certainty, legal interoperability, and the careful layering of soft-law and hard-law instruments to ensure both innovation and institutional trust.

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Industry Challenges: Legal Certainty for CASPs and Private Law Fragmentation

The opening session addressed the disconnect between MiCAR’s regulatory requirements for CASPs and the absence of harmonized private law rules governing ownership, transfer, and enforceability of crypto-assets. While MiCAR sets out rules for custody and conduct, it leaves key civil law concepts unresolved. Participants discussed the merits of three legal pathways: a sector-specific EU directive, mutual recognition among Member States, and interim reliance on soft-law instruments like the UNIDROIT Principles. The conversation emphasized that without legal certainty at the civil law level, MiCAR’s effectiveness could be undermined by fragmentation across jurisdictions.

Call to Actions

Promote an EU Directive or Regulation to align MiCAR with private law minimum standards, drawing on the Financial Collateral Directive.
Encourage Member States to recognize the proprietary character of digital assets and control-based transfers using the UNIDROIT Principles.
Expand EU private international law instruments (e.g., Rome I/II) to resolve cross-border legal fragmentation.

Implementing the “Control” Concept in Civil Law Systems

This session examined how civil law jurisdictions can integrate the concept of “control” from the UNIDROIT Principles, which defines control as the technical ability to manage a digital asset (e.g., via private keys), independent of traditional notions like possession or registration. Participants discussed whether control should be treated analogously to possession or recognized as a standalone legal category, and raised concerns about custodial arrangements where service providers hold technical control but not legal title. Examples from Liechtenstein, Kyrgyzstan, and the Czech Republic demonstrated how soft-law tools can support legal adaptation without immediate structural reform.

Call to Actions

Develop model legal provisions aligned with the UNIDROIT Principles to support the recognition of control in civil law.
Encourage comparative law research and pilot frameworks documenting control’s legal treatment across jurisdictions.
Clarify the distinction between control and custody to avoid legal ambiguity in MiCAR-compliant custody structures.

Applying the DAPL Principles to Financial Instruments

This session explored how the UNIDROIT Principles on Digital Assets and Private Law (DAPL) can be applied to financial instruments issued via DLT. Using Italy’s Fintech Decree as a reference, participants analyzed how book-entry rules can be adapted to the blockchain context without requiring full legal overhaul. Challenges included reconciling on-chain control with off-chain legal rights, especially in collateral and insolvency situations. The discussion reinforced the importance of hybrid legal approaches that leverage traditional structures while embracing DLT-specific innovations.

Call to Actions

Promote the adoption of the DAPL Principles in national financial legislation, especially in areas involving acquisition and collateral.
Encourage Member States to expand existing book-entry frameworks to accommodate DLT-based securities.
Develop legal guidance on the interaction between on-chain registries and off-chain enforcement, particularly in cases of default or insolvency.