EU lawmakers have re-scheduled their vote on landmark crypto regulation bill MiCA to April 2023. Its key provisions cover transparency, disclosure, authorisation and supervision of crypto transactions
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
European Parliament postponed voting for its long-expected crypto regulation bill the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) to the plenary sitting scheduled on April 17, 2023.
MiCA sets guidelines for the landmark licensing regime for crypto companies operating within the EU. Covering crypto assets that are not currently regulated by the existing laws related to financial services, the bill also regulates stablecoin issuance.
MiCA’s key provisions cover transparency, disclosure, authorisation and supervision of crypto transactions. Additionally, the new legal framework will regulate public offers of crypto-assets. Finally, the revised text agreed upon in 2022 includes measures against market manipulation, money laundering, terrorist financing and other criminal activities.
First introduced in 2020, MiCA’s final version was pre-approved by the responsible committee in October 2022. The vote, originally scheduled for late 2022, was once postponed to this February but faced another delay.
Reportedly, the reasons are purely technical. Namely, officials previously said the translation of a 400-page draft in all 24 official languages of the EU bloc was taking longer than expected.
Once the bill gets its final approval, EU regulatory bodies will have 12 to 18 months to draft the technical standards for MiCA.
Meanwhile, European lawmakers are very positive about the impact it would bring to the “Wild West” of the crypto industry.
In the current unregulated environment, ECB argues that crypto is more akin to gambling than financial instruments.
