Digital Assets & Web3 · EU · Advanced
MiCA Market Abuse and Market Integrity
MiCA's market-abuse regime for crypto-assets: inside information and its disclosure, insider dealing, unlawful disclosure and market manipulation, surveillance and suspicious transaction and order reports, and how the regime compares with MAR. Four modules, a case study and a 15-question final exam.
- 3
- CPD hours
- 7
- Units
- 80%
- Pass mark
- EU
- Jurisdiction
Course specification
What you are buying
The CPD hours below are the hours printed on your certificate.
| CPD hours | 3 |
|---|---|
| Level | Advanced |
| Units | 7 |
| Duration | 7 units · 3 hours of study, self-paced |
| Delivery | Online, self-paced |
| Assessment | 15-question final exam, 12 correct to pass, 30-minute timer |
| Pass mark | 80% |
| Jurisdiction | EU |
| Language | English |
| Prerequisites | None |
| Certification | Pnyx Hill Academy Certificate of Professional Achievement |
Learning outcomes
What you will be able to do
On completing this course you will be able to:
- Explain why market integrity in crypto-assets carries specific risks: continuous trading, fragmented venues, social-media influence and public blockchains.
- Apply the scope of Title VI to a crypto-asset, a transaction and a person, including activity off a trading platform and in third countries.
- Disclose inside information as the implementing standard requires, without combining it with marketing.
- Identify insider dealing, including using inside information to cancel or amend orders, and recommending or inducing others.
- Classify manipulative behaviour against each limb and listed example in MiCA, and test whether a legitimate reason exists.
- Identify the persons who professionally arrange or execute transactions and therefore carry the duty to prevent, detect and report.
- Compare the MiCA market-abuse regime with MAR provision by provision.
- Treat a listing decision as inside information and control who knows it.
Curriculum
7 units, start to certificate
The case study comes before the final exam, so you apply the rules before you are tested on them.
M0 Welcome: Someone is watching the order book Video
Crypto-asset markets never close, run on many venues at once and react to a single post on social media. MiCA gives them a market-abuse regime of their own. This orientation explains why it exists, who it catches, what it asks of every firm and how the course will take you through it.
- The regime Title VI of MiCA: three prohibitions and two duties.
- The people Any person, every professional arranger, every issuer.
- The rulebook MiCA, two technical standards, ESMA guidelines.
- The course Four modules, one case study, one assessment.
About 17 minutes of study time
M1 Scope, inside information and disclosure Video · Quiz
Inside information is the raw material of insider dealing. This module explains when information about a crypto-asset becomes inside information, who must publish it, how, and the narrow conditions under which publication may lawfully wait.
- Scope Which crypto-assets, which acts, which places.
- The test Four gates, a reasonable holder and client orders.
- Disclosure As soon as possible, never mixed with marketing.
- Delay Three conditions, a record and a notification.
About 30 minutes of study time
M2 Insider dealing, unlawful disclosure and market manipulation Video · Quiz
MiCA prohibits three things: dealing on inside information, disclosing it unlawfully and manipulating the market. This module explains each prohibition, the patterns that manipulation takes in crypto-assets and the line between providing liquidity and selling fake volume.
- Insider dealing Use, cancel, amend, recommend, induce.
- Unlawful disclosure Only in the normal exercise of duties.
- Manipulation Signals, prices, deception, information.
- Market making Where liquidity ends and manipulation begins.
About 30 minutes of study time
M3 Surveillance, monitoring and suspicious transaction and order reports Video · Quiz
Manipulation keeps coming back because it works until somebody sees it. This module explains what a firm that arranges or executes transactions must have in place to see it first, and how to turn a suspicion into a report the authority can use.
- Who Every person professionally arranging or executing.
- What Orders, trades and the ledger, on and off platform.
- How Alerts, human analysis, replay, training, review.
- Report STOR without delay, confidential, recorded.
About 30 minutes of study time
M4 MiCA and MAR compared Video · Quiz
Many firms in Cyprus and Greece sit across two regimes: MAR for shares, bonds and derivatives, MiCA for crypto-assets. This module sets them side by side, shows what MiCA does not copy and explains the powers and sanctions behind both.
- Same core Inside information, disclosure, dealing, manipulation.
- Left out Insider lists, managers’ trades, soundings.
- Boundary Which regime applies to which instrument.
- Enforcement Powers, sanctions and requests.
About 25 minutes of study time
Case The listing week Case study · Video
One token, one platform, five working days. This case study follows an illustrative Cyprus exchange through the week it admits a new token to trading, and asks you to make the decisions its staff had to make, in the order they had to make them.
- Protect Keep the listing confidential, and act when it leaks.
- Challenge Read the market maker’s offer.
- Detect Connect the post, the accounts and the trades.
- Report Send the report, and answer the authority.
About 35 minutes of study time
Exam Final assessment · 15 questions · 30 minutes · 80% to pass 15 questions · 12 to pass
About 30 minutes of study time
Your instructor
Learn from an experienced industry practitioner
Instructor of record
Yiannos Ashiotis
- CPA
- CAMS
- CFSA
- MCSI
- CySEC AML-Certified
- CySEC Advanced-Certified
Chair of the Board and Co-Founder of Pnyx Hill. Advises regulated investment firms, credit institutions and asset managers across the EU, Cyprus and the UAE on licensing, governance and conduct-of-business obligations.
Instructor of record means he sets the content, exam and certification standard for every Pnyx Hill Academy course, and the certificate is issued on his authority.
Assessment and certification
A certificate that means something
The final exam pass mark for this course is 80%, rounded up to a whole question: 12 of 15 correct. There is no lower tier and no participation certificate.
The minimum on the final exam, rounded up to a whole question. Module quizzes are practice and are not graded, but each must be worked through to complete its module.
Sat online when you are ready; the timer is 30 minutes. You can retake it at no extra charge.
Issued as a PDF the moment the course completes, with your name and the date.
Every certificate carries a unique ID. Anyone you show it to, such as your employer or a supervisor during an inspection, can check it is genuine at pnyxhill.academy/verify-certificate.
CySEC continuing professional development
Built for your CySEC CPD record
This course is designed as continuing professional development under paragraph 17(2)(a) of the CySEC Certification Directive (R.A.D. 44/2019, as amended), for persons on the CySEC public registers of certified persons.
| Total duration | 3 hours of study, excluding breaks |
|---|---|
| Laws covered |
|
| Proof of completion | Every unit must be completed in full, and the course ends with a final exam at 80%. The certificate is issued only on a pass. |
| Trainer | Yiannos Ashiotis, Instructor of record |
Download the CPD evidence pack (PDF) Course outline, laws covered, duration, assessment and trainer profile — what CySEC asks certified persons to keep for five years, alongside the certificate.
CySEC does not approve CPD providers or courses, and Pnyx Hill Academy is not approved by CySEC. Certified persons remain responsible for confirming that a course meets their own CPD requirements. How CySEC CPD works
Who it is for
Built for the desks these rules bind
Everyone in a firm that operates a crypto-asset trading platform, executes or transmits orders, exchanges crypto-assets or issues tokens admitted to trading in the European Union.
- Front and middle office, trading and listings
- Client services and operations
- Technology and data
- Marketing and social media
- Finance
- Legal, compliance, surveillance and risk
- The AMLCO or MLRO
- Senior management and the board
No prior study is required.
Questions
Before you enrol
How long will the course take me?
The course carries 3 CPD hours, which is the guided learning time across the videos, the written notes, the module quizzes, the case study and the exam. It is self-paced, so you can take it in one sitting or over several weeks.
Can I skip ahead through the videos?
No. A unit with video only completes once each video has actually been watched through — dragging the scrubber forward does not count — and each module quiz has to be worked through as well. That is what lets us put CPD hours on the certificate and stand behind them.
Who presents the videos?
Elena, an AI-generated presenter. The lessons are scripted, and the course content written and checked, by the instructor of record, Yiannos Ashiotis. Every video has English captions.
What happens if I fail the exam?
You can sit it again. There is no extra charge and no limit on attempts.
How do I get the certificate?
It is emailed to you as a PDF, attached, within minutes of the course completing. It carries your name, the course title, the 3 CPD hours and the date.
Can my firm enrol a team?
Yes. Choose "Enrol a team", pick the number of learners and name them at checkout. Each learner gets their own login and their own certificate. For more than 50 learners, a dedicated firm branch with completion reporting, or payment by invoice, talk to us.
Enrol in MiCA Market Abuse and Market Integrity
€ 105.00 for 3 CPD hours. Final exam pass mark 80%. Certificate when you pass.