Cryptocurrency
(STRASBOURG) – The European Parliament endorsed Thursday the first EU rules to trace crypto-asset transfers, prevent money laundering, with common rules on supervision and customer protection.
The first piece of EU legislation for tracing transfers of crypto-assets like bitcoins and electronic money tokens aims to ensure that crypto transfers, as is the case with any other financial operation, can always be traced and suspicious transactions blocked.
“This puts the EU at the forefront of the token economy with 10 000 different crypto assets,” said Stefan Berger MEP, the lead MEP for the MiCA regulation: “Consumers will be protected against deception and fraud, and the sector that was damaged by the FTX collapse can regain trust.”
A so-called ‘travel rule’, already used in traditional finance, will in future cover transfers of crypto assets. 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 so-called self-hosted wallets (a crypto-asset wallet address of a private user) when they interact with hosted wallets managed by crypto-assets service providers. The rules do not apply to person-to-person transfers conducted without a provider or among providers acting on their own behalf.
MEPs also approved new common rules on the supervision, consumer protection and environmental safeguards of crypto-assets, including crypto-currencies (MiCA). The draft law includes safeguards against market manipulation and financial crime.
MiCA will cover crypto-assets that are not regulated by existing financial services legislation. Key provisions for those issuing and trading crypto-assets (including asset-reference tokens and e-money tokens) cover transparency, disclosure, authorisation and supervision of transactions. Consumers would be better informed about the risks, costs and charges linked to their operations. In addition, the new legal framework will support market integrity and financial stability by regulating public offers of crypto-assets.
Finally, the agreed text includes measures against market manipulation and to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and other criminal activities. To counter money-laundering risks the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) should set up a public register for non-compliant crypto assets service providers that operate in the European Union without authorisation.
To reduce the high carbon footprint of crypto-currencies, significant service providers will have to disclose their energy consumption.
The texts will now have to be formally endorsed by Council, before publication in the EU Official Journal. They will enter into force 20 days later
Further information, European Parliament
