Recital 10

(10)LEI is a widely recognised, financially and operationally accessible international identifier used in financial markets. LEI is an international identifier that ensures access to the underlying data at all times, allowing for comparability and aggregation of information at Union level, improving the quality and timeliness of aggregated data and reducing the reporting burden for crypto-asset service providers. Therefore, crypto-asset services providers should, where available, record the LEI of clients that are legal persons on whose behalf they carry out orders and execute transactions. However, there are other legal entity identifiers that may be appropriate for use in the context of this Regulation. Directive (EU) 2017/1132 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁷ requires companies subject to that Directive to have a European Unique identifier (‘EUID’), which unequivocally identifies companies and as such is an appropriate tool for the identification of entities in the EU. Within a period of 18 months after the entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission and ESMA will work closely to facilitate the use of EUID as a tool to identify clients that are legal entities for the purpose of this Regulation. Following the completion of this work, the Commission should assess the readiness to use EUID for the purposes of Article 14. Additionally, to ensure openness to other identifiers which may be fit for supervisory purposes and support the integrity of the market, this Regulation sets out criteria that should be met by those alternative identifiers. To enable the market to use such eligible alternative identifiers, ESMA should approve their use where they meet the criteria set out in this Regulation.