The Council of the European Union has presented its ultimate approval of new regulations for crypto assets and markets in the EU. The decision completes a lengthy and complex legislative process for what’s regarded to be the world’s initial comprehensive legal framework for digital assets like Bitcoin.
EU Finance Ministers Present Final Nod to Markets in Crypto Assets Law
At a meeting on Tuesday, the EU Council, composed of the finance ministers of the element states, took up the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation. The set of rules brings crypto assets, their issuers, and crypto service providers under a Union-wide regulatory framework.
The formal adoption is the ultimate step in the legislative process, the Council remarked. It comes after a provisional agreement was reached in June 2022, succeeding trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament and the Commission, and the EU lawmakers ’ vote in April of this year.
“ I'm very pleased that today we're delivering on our pledge to start regulating the crypto-assets sector, ” stated Elisabeth Svantesson, the finance minister of Sweden. Quoted in a press release, she similarly highlighted:
Recent events have confirmed the urgent need for imposing rules which will better protect Europeans who have invested in these assets, and prevent the misuse of crypto industry for the purposes of money laundering and financing of terrorism.
The legislation is aimed to regulate the supervision, consumer protection, and environmental shields of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The new rules similarly cover utility tokens, asset-referenced tokens, and stablecoins.
The law regulates trading stages as well as digital wallets utilized to hold crypto assets. “ This regulatory framework aims to protect investors, and preserve financial stability while permitting innovation and promoting the attractiveness of the crypto-asset sector, ” the EU Council insisted, adding:
It also introduces a harmonized regulatory framework in the European Union which, given the global nature of crypto markets, is an improvement compared to the current situation with national legislation in some member states only.
MiCA is a piece of a larger digital finance package, meant to elaborate a common European approach, which similarly contains a digital finance strategy, a Digital Operational Resilience Act, concerning crypto service providers, too, and an offer on a distributed ledger technology pilot regime for wholesale usages.
(Lubomir Tassev, Bitcoin.com, 2023)