MiCA legislation good news for crypto players: Binance Europe VP

Smaller cryptocurrency exchanges and startups can benefit from the EU’s Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) regulation, according to Martin Bruncko, Binance’s executive vice president for Europe.

Cointelegraph had a one-on-one interview with Martin Bruncko during the Web Summit conference in Lisbon in early November 2022. Bruncko led Binance’s operations across Europe, providing unique insight into the exchange’s growth across the continent and its perspective on the regulatory the environment.

The European Parliament committee adopted MiCA’s crypto policy on October 10, which aims to create a one-size-fits-all regulatory framework for the industry across the 27 countries that make up the EU.

Bruncko told Cointelegraph that the European crypto landscape is currently fragmented, with all 27 countries in Europe having different regulatory regimes ranging from “quite restrictive to non-existent.” This has led to time-consuming and financially demanding requirements for exchanges to ensure that they are fully compliant in different jurisdictions:

“This is exactly the problem right now, and that’s why we’re actually, I would say almost, excited about MiCA, because it creates a single market.”

Bruncko emphasized that the current landscape hindered smaller players who wanted to scale across the continent, given the costs of ensuring compliance across different borders.

“In principle, it’s good news for all crypto players in Europe, because again, now you can only operate within a single market. It just makes it so much easier to grow your business, to scale your business with much less cost.”

Bruncko also believes that early-stage crypto companies will also benefit from the legislation, and be able to focus on growth rather than legal and compliance considerations.

Related: The MiCA bill contains a clear warning for crypto influencers

Europe remains a focal point for Binance, which sees the continent as one of the largest and most advanced crypto economies in the world. Given that financial innovation and leading fintech are centered in Europe, Bruncko emphasized that the wider region will continue to be an important operational space for the exchange.

“A lot of big crypto projects were started outside of Europe. If you take Ethereum, it effectively started in London, Switzerland and a bunch of other places. Ever since then, we’ve had a huge amount of different successful, influential projects coming out of Europe.”

Bruncko said Binance has been pushing to ensure regulatory compliance across Europe over the past year. The exchange is regulated in five European countries, including two G7 members.