European regulator flags shortage of crypto specialists

The European Banking Authority (EBA) is experiencing a shortage of staff needed to supervise the cryptocurrency industry, said regulator chief Jose Manuel Campa in an interview with the Financial Times.

According to him, one of the ways to address this “serious problem” is higher pay. However, the matter is not within the scope of current discussions between the EBA and the European Commission, the official noted.

Another key difficulty Campa cited is the sluggish pace of formulating regulatory framework that cannot keep up with the industry’s development. The head of the authority admitted that cryptocurrencies could transform before the broad regulation takes effect in 2025.

At the start of July, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament preliminarily agreed provisions of the draft regulation governing crypto assets MiCA. It describes the rules applicable to issuers of unbacked crypto assets, stablecoins, trading and custodian platforms.

The document does not affect non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Over the next 18 months, the European Commission may supplement it with corresponding provisions.

Later, members of the European Greens and Socialists proposed extending AML/CFT standards to decentralized organizations, DeFi platforms and NFT platforms.

As noted, Christine Lagarde, head of the European Central Bank, said that all cryptocurrencies and stablecoins meet the definition of speculative assets and that recognizing them as currencies would be inappropriate.

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