Cardano Foundation publishes DARTE Paris 2.0 report on EU digital asset regulation

Europe has been busy writing rules for crypto. The problem, as the Cardano Foundation sees it, is that nobody agrees on what those rules actually mean in practice.

The Foundation’s newly published DARTE Paris 2.0 report zeroes in on exactly that tension: the gap between regulation as written and regulation as applied across the EU’s patchwork of member states. The document emerged from roundtable discussions bringing together policymakers, regulators, and industry participants to hash out how digital asset rules should work in the real world.

What DARTE Paris 2.0 actually covers

DARTE, which stands for Digital Assets Regulation and Token Economy, is not a one-off white paper. It’s part of a series of five global roundtables funded through Cardano’s Project Catalyst, a community-driven treasury system. The Paris edition focuses specifically on Europe’s regulatory framework and the legal gaps that still exist in crypto policy.

The report tackles three major regulatory pillars that are reshaping how digital assets operate in Europe.

First up is MiCAR, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. Stablecoin-specific provisions took effect on June 30, 2024, with the full regulatory regime becoming applicable from December 30, 2024. The challenge, according to the report’s findings, is that different national regulators are interpreting that rulebook differently.

Then there’s DORA, the Digital Operational Resilience Act. DORA’s ICT resilience standards take effect from January 17, 2025, and they apply to financial entities that engage with digital assets.

The third pillar is the EU’s updated Anti-Money Laundering framework. New AML regulations will start applying from July 10, 2027, extending KYC and AML obligations to digital asset service providers.

The consistency problem

The DARTE report’s central argument is that Europe needs clearer interpretation guidance and more consistent application of its own rules. The staggered rollout of MiCAR, with stablecoin rules landing months before the full regime, already created confusion about which entities needed to comply with what and by when. Multiply that ambiguity across 27 member states, each with its own financial regulator, and you get a fragmented landscape that the report suggests could undermine Europe’s competitiveness in digital assets.

Cardano’s positioning play

The Foundation isn’t publishing this report purely out of civic duty. Cardano is actively positioning its blockchain infrastructure as a tool for regulatory compliance, particularly around sustainability requirements.

One specific use case highlighted is Digital Product Passports, an EU initiative designed to track products’ environmental and sustainability credentials throughout their lifecycle. The idea is that Cardano’s public blockchain could serve as the verification layer for these passports, providing an immutable record that regulators and consumers can trust.

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