Spain looks to include NFTs and loot boxes in gaming legislation

Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs says it is carrying out “exhaustive monitoring” of loot boxes, P2E games and NFTs.

Spain.- Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs says it intends to open a dialogue with the aim of regulating loot boxes, play-to-earn (P2E) games and crypto games.

The announcement comes after Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) published rules for the advertising of crypto assets that affect influencers, streamers and content creators.

The ministry said it is carrying out “very exhaustive monitoring of this entire series of phenomena” but did not go into more detail. However, minister Albero Garzón is known to have been working on the regulation of loot boxes for months, following a consultation last year.

Legislation would follow the lead of Belgium, which passed regulations that prohibit the acquisition of FIFA points in Ultimate Team mode in EA’s series of games.

Garzón already announced in November that the ministry had identified up to four types of loot boxes and that not all can be addressed in the amendments to Spain’s gaming legislation that are expected in upcoming weeks.

The ministry said in a statement: “Work is being done on a modification of the Gambling Regulation Law, but it is still early to anticipate the details on the formulas chosen to incorporate this type of element into the Spanish legal system.

“It must be taken into account that there are products that are very different from each other and that there are many sectors that will be affected by this regulation.”

The ministry said it understands that the most prudent approach is “first open dialogue processes” with the relevant sectors.

South Korea has also taken action on the matter, working on legislation that would allow NFTs to be taxed. It already de facto considers crypto games illegal.

However, legislation remains behind developments such as platforms like Decentraland, Axie Infinity or The Sandbox, metaverses that have seen “real estate” operations and other transactions.