European Council passes landmark Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA)

The European Council has made major strides towards crypto regulation by approving the landmark European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation today.

The MiCA regulation will now proceed to the European Parliament for a vote by the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee next week after which if approved will become operational earliest at the start of 2024. The vote is expected to be conducted on October 10.

What is MiCA regulation?

MiCA is a short form of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, which sets out to provide institutional regulation to the issuance of cryptocurrencies. Once the regulation becomes operational, it will establish a first–time regime of regulated crypto-asset service providers across EU member states.

If approved by the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee, the regulation is expected to be translated into the more than 20 official languages in Europe before it is adopted into the EU’s Official Journal which will formalize its enforcement.

There will then be a 12-18 month adaptation period that will prepare for the new laws.

The European institutions had reached a political agreement on the MiCA back in June this year before negotiating its technical details over the summer. The finer details on how to implement the regulation once it is passed are expected to be ironed out by the European supervisory bodies.

Concerns about non-euro denominated stablecoins

While MiCA regulation has been welcomed by the majority within the crypto space in the EU, there are concerns about the limitations that the regulation has set on non-euro-denominated stablecoins.

The harsh measures against non-euro-denominated stablecoins had previously been removed before making their way back into the approved draft last Wednesday.

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