EU crypto “travel” regulations pass European Parliament vote
The European Parliament has waved through the first EU rules designed to trace cryptoasset transfers and beef up consumer protections.
European Parliament votes in bloc-wide crypto regulations
The European Union’s Markets in Cryptoassets (MiCA) regulation will require crypto firms to register in one of the EU’s member states, before allowing them to operate across the bloc.
Stefan Berger, lead MEP for the MiCA regulation, says: “Consumers will be protected against deception and fraud, and the sector that was damaged by the FTX collapse can regain trust.”
The European Banking Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority will ensure crypto firms are playing by the rules, which include adopting risk management and governance processes.
MiCA was approved by MEPs with 529 votes in favour to 29 against and 14 abstentions and was provisionally agreed by parliament and council negotiators in June 2022.
The regulation aims to ensure that crypto transfers, as is the case with traditional financial services, can be traced and suspicious transactions blocked.
This “travel rule” will ultimately ensure that 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 private wallets when they interact with hosted wallets managed by cryptoasset service providers. The rules do not apply to person-to-person transfers conducted without a provider or among providers acting on their own behalf.
Enterprise software firm R3’s chief economist Alisa DiCaprio says MiCA “will serve as a platform for future innovation which is vital as global competition across technology and financial services climbs”.
“It would be a surprise if other jurisdictions like the UK and the US aren’t quick to follow suit and further accelerate their crypto regulatory efforts.”
