The rule.
Article 99 (Title V of MiCA) governs CASP marketing communications:
“Any marketing communications relating to the provision of crypto-asset services by a crypto-asset service provider shall be in line with all of the following requirements:
(a) the marketing communications are clearly identifiable as such;
(b) the information in the marketing communications is fair, clear and not misleading;
(c) the information in the marketing communications is consistent with the information provided to clients pursuant to this Regulation, in particular Articles 66, 67 and 102.”
The parity rule also appears in Articles 7 (offers), 29 (ART issuers) and 53 (EMT issuers). One principle: the filed document must match the marketing.
What it requires.
Whitepaper as source of truth. Every claim — tokenomics, yield, redemption rights, risk profile, custody, jurisdiction, utility — must be backed by the whitepaper. If the whitepaper doesn’t say it, the marketing can’t.
No upgrade in marketing. “Variable yield, target 4–6%” in the whitepaper becomes “Earn up to 6% APY” on the landing page. That gap fails Article 99 and Article 88 simultaneously.
Synchronised updates. When the whitepaper is amended, marketing pages from before the amendment are non-compliant from that date.
Common violations.
Whitepaper: “Variable yield, historical range 3.8%–5.4%, no guarantee.”
Landing page: “Earn up to 6% APY.”
“Up to” exceeds the documented range. Compound violation of Article 88 (misleading) and Article 99 (parity).
Whitepaper: “Redemption requests are processed within 5 business days subject to liquidity.”
Landing page: “Withdraw anytime.”
“Withdraw anytime” implies instant, unconditional liquidity. The landing page misrepresents the redemption right.
Whitepaper: “Investors may lose all of their capital.”
Marketing email: “A safer way to earn on stablecoins.”
“Safer” implies a baseline the whitepaper does not support. Violates Article 99 parity and Article 88 misleading.
How to comply.
Before launch, map every quantified or qualified statement to a whitepaper sentence. If you can’t map it, you can’t ship it.
The whitepaper is the canonical wording. Cut, don’t upgrade.
A whitepaper amendment triggers a same-day marketing-asset review.
Style-guide ban on “guarantee,” “always,” “instantly,” “anytime,” “safer,” “safest.” Route exceptions to legal.
Related rules.
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The upgrade gap is usually both misleading and inconsistent.
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Risk treatment must match the whitepaper’s risk section too.
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KOL content is also a marketing communication subject to Article 99 parity.