EU Lawmakers Pass Landmark Crypto Regulation Bill
European Union (EU) lawmakers have passed the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) bill, a landmark piece of legislation aimed at regulating the digital asset market. Members voted 28 to 1 in favor of the landmark new crypto laws. The bill will be sent to the European Parliament for a final vote in the next parliamentary session. The laws come into force in 2024.
Important takeaways
- Lawmakers from the EU have almost unanimously voted to pass the MiCA bill.
- The bill will be sent to the European Parliament for a final vote in the next parliamentary session.
- MiCA covers several aspects of the crypto market, including stablecoins, consumer protection and money laundering prevention.
MiCA gets approval
The European Council approved the bill last week. It focuses on several aspects, such as the prevention of money laundering, consumer protection, the accountability of crypto companies, the environmental impact of the industry and stablecoins.
The bill will still have to be voted on by the European Parliament in the next session, but this is expected to happen before the end of the year. Once the bill is approved, it becomes law between 12 and 18 months from the vote.
Dr. Stefan Berger, member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), celebrated the development on Twitter. The crypto community, on the other hand, is a bit more cagey about the bill, although no intense discussions have taken place in the wake of the news.
MiCA is set to change the crypto market
The MiCA regulations have a strong set of laws aimed at the crypto market. It has been much discussed this year, and has met with both praise and criticism. The crypto industry has generally welcomed regulation, believing it would lend legitimacy to the market and attract investors on the fence.
On the other hand, industry insiders have been wary of some specific details of the regulations, such as the ability to identify users from their transactions. They fear that this is a violation of privacy, and this very point has been a thorn in the side of the crypto industry.
Specifically, the bill covers the definition of cryptoassets and calls a token significant if it has more than 2 million users, a market value or reserve assets exceeding 1 billion euros, at least 500,000 transactions per day, and is in operation in seven EU member states.
The EU turns its attention to the DeFi market
The European Commission also wants to monitor the decentralized market (DeFi) more closely. The authority said it wanted to consider built-in oversight of the niche.
The effort will involve a pilot using embedded technology to monitor the DeFi market. It indicates that the EU is not done when it comes to crypto regulations.
The bottom line
The EU’s decision to take the MiCA bill to the final stage of voting signals its intention to regulate the crypto market. There could be more regulation on the horizon as it puts DeFi under the spotlight next. The bill could bring in other countries, such as India and the UK, which have been working on crypto regulation for a long time.
