Last summer, the EU adopted the MiCA bill. MiCA stands for Markets in Crypto Assets, and as the name implies, it has to regulate the crypto market. Now the latest version is reviewed by the European Parliament, after which it is decided whether this version should become an official law.
European crypto MiCA law almost official
Last summer it was only a proposal which could still be improved upon. That’s now done, and the European Council’s Permanent Representatives Committee has the new version approved. The proposal now on the table should form the final law.
Circle’s Patrick Hansen describes on Twitter what the next steps are. The European Parliament will vote on the new proposal on October 10. If accepted, it will be checked for language and legal errors. After that, there will be another vote and it will be included in the law book. If everything goes according to plan, the legislation will become active in early 2024.
Update on MiCA: The text was approved today in the Council of the EU and is now public!
Next steps:
-ECON vote in the EP on Oct 10
-lawyer/linguist checks
-plenary vote in the EP
-publication in the official journal of the EUMiCA text: https://t.co/7Er0dDJwxX
— Patrick Hansen (@paddi_hansen) October 5, 2022
Stricter rules from the EU
The proposed law addresses not only the regulation of cryptocurrencies in general, but also regulation of stablecoins, Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystems, crypto companies such as exchanges and custodians and more. The plan is based in large part on the established rules of FATF, which has drawn up a crypto regulation playbook.
There will be new rules regarding identification, which the Dutch government has already become stricter on. For example, at Coinbase and Bitvavo you now have to indicate who owns a wallet linked to the exchange. You must also indicate on Coinbase from the government what certain transactions are intended for.
The regulations seem to be getting a lot stricter, but it does give the impression that they will be fair and responsible rules. Bitvavo was already happy with the proposal, which should ensure safe use of crypto assets with as little crime as possible.