The Council formally approved the Regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA)
On 16 May 2023, the Council formally approved the Regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), which establishes a harmonised regulatory framework for crypto-assets at EU level.
The new rules aim to better protect consumers and investors and regulate risks by safeguards against financial crime and market manipulation. The regulation is set to contribute to financial stability and boost the innovation potential of the crypto-assets market. Crypto-asset service providers will also need to declare information on their environmental and climate footprint.
Money laundering
Parliament endorsed the first EU rules to trace crypto-asset transfers, prevent money laundering, as well as common rules on supervision and customer protection.
On 16 May, MEPs approved with 529 votes in favour to 29 against and 14 abstentions, the first piece of EU legislation for tracing transfers of crypto-assets like bitcoins and electronic money tokens.
The text –which was provisionally agreed by Parliament and Council negotiators in June 2022- aims to ensure that crypto transfers, as is the case with any other financial operation, can always be traced and suspicious transactions blocked. The so-called “travel rule”, already used in traditional finance, will in future cover transfers of crypto assets. Information on the source of the asset and its beneficiary will have to “travel” with the transaction and be stored on both sides of the transfer.
The law would also cover transactions above €1000 from so-called self-hosted wallets (a crypto-asset wallet address of a private user) when they interact with hosted wallets managed by crypto-assets service providers. The rules do not apply to person-to-person transfers conducted without a provider or among providers acting on their own behalf.