EU lawmakers believe that the new rules for the comprehensive regulation of crypto-asset markets (MiCA) will end the era of the ‘Wild West’ in the industry. Decrypt reports this.
Ahead of the vote on the bill, due to be held on 20 April, policymakers discussed the merits of the document.
Spanish congressman Ernest Urtasun said that “the lack of regulation had led to huge losses for many retail investors and provided a haven for fraudsters and international criminal organisations”.
“MiCA represents an important and necessary first step toward bringing the crypto sector under regulatory oversight,” he said.
German congressman Stefan Berger, one of the bill’s authors, says that adoption of the document would place the EU at the forefront of the digital-asset economy and restore the trust that was undermined by the collapse of FTX.
According to EU financial commissioner Mairead McGuinness, had Sam Bankman-Fried’s company been under EU jurisdiction, the situation could have been avoided.
“Europe missed the innovation train when it came to the Internet. Now it’s not enough to simply hop on board; we must become the engineers of a new era,” said Lídia Pereira of Portugal.
There were also dissenting voices in Parliament. Ireland’s Chris McManus backed the measure only for its emphasis on transparency and consumer protection, despite personally holding a negative view of digital assets.
“I am not interested in creating a market or promoting the use of cryptocurrencies. In the worst case, they are financial pyramids used by criminal groups to launder money and defraud ordinary citizens,” he said.
Dutch MEP Paul Tang compared cryptocurrency to the tulip mania episode in 1637, when people in his country became obsessed with tulips.
“Then the bubble burst, leaving depositors, speculators and investors in ruins. The similarity with digital assets is evident,” the politician noted.
Nevertheless, he acknowledged that tulips are now part of Dutch culture, and suggested that cryptocurrency might one day achieve “the same success”.
German congressman Gunnar Beck noted that with the passage of MiCA authorities would establish total financial supervision and criminalise the DeFi sector and its users.
If MiCA is adopted, the bill would require final approval from the European Council at its May meeting.
In October 2022, the members of the EU Council signed the text of the bill regulating digital assets without further discussion. MiCA includes rules that apply to issuers of unsecured crypto assets, stablecoins, trading and custody platforms.
Providers of crypto-asset services will be required to adhere to strict rules aimed at protecting consumers, and trading platforms will be required to provide a white paper.
In March, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets said it would take a hard line on enforcing the EU’s new crypto rules.
Earlier, Binance’s European unit vice-president Martin Brunko said that MiCA would benefit and simplify the work of small firms involved with digital assets.