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Strasbourg, France: On Thursday, the European Parliament passed the first set of thorough regulations for the “Wild West” world of cryptocurrencies to safeguard investors from misuse and manipulation.
The law governing cryptoassets, including digital currencies like bitcoin and ethereum and other tradable tokens whose value is protected by blockchain technology, including NFTs, has already received support from EU member states.
The regulations, which have already been endorsed by the vast majority of European legislators, aim to reform a sector plagued by scandals and failures.
The FTX platform and its sister trading house Alameda Research went bankrupt in November, dissolving a virtual trading company that had a market worth of $32 billion. This was one of the most recent cryptocurrency exchange disasters.
The EU commissioner for financial services, Mairead McGuinness, said during a parliamentary debate on Wednesday that the rules would have regulated FTX’s activities and perhaps prevented its collapse at great cost to some investors.
Under the regulation known as Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), cryptoassets service providers (CASPs) must protect customers’ digital wallets and will be liable if they lose investors’ cryptoassets.
“We believe that had FTX, for example, been captured under EU jurisdiction, many of its practices would not have been permissible under MiCA,” McGuinness said in Strasbourg.
Large providers will also have to disclose their energy consumption as part of the EU’s efforts to reduce cryptocurrencies’ high carbon footprint.
A second regulation on fund transfers will lead to greater oversight of cryptoassets trades, bringing it more closely into line with practices in traditional finance.
The EU says this will make it harder for criminals to use cryptocurrencies for illegal activity such as money laundering.
The regulations “mark the end of the Wild West era for the unregulated world of cryptoassets”, Ernest Urtasun, one of the EU lawmakers spearheading the legislation through parliament, said during the debate.
“For over a decade, the lack of regulation has resulted in massive losses to many first-time investors and provided a safe haven for fraudsters and international criminal networks,” he added.
The illegal use of cryptocurrencies reached a record high of $20.1 billion last year, up from $18 billion in 2021, according to blockchain data company Chainalysis.
Creating ‘safer environment’
Some had, however, criticised the draft legislation for not going far enough.
“In line with the principle of proportionality, significant CASPs should be subject to both stricter requirements and enhanced supervision: neither of the two is catered for by MiCA,” Elizabeth McCaul, European Central Bank supervisory board member, wrote in a blog post this month.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank said the clearer regulatory framework should lead to greater adoption by businesses and “partially” reduce volatility in the market.
There have been claims that the regulation would block innovation but McGuinness dismissed the suggestion.
“What we believe is that having a regulatory framework allows the industry to evolve in a more cohesive and safer environment,” she said.
She added that she hoped the rules would become a model for other countries.
The United States is also cracking down on the crypto industry as calls grow for greater regulatory oversight across the Atlantic.
A top US markets regulator charged Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, and its founder Changpeng Zhao last month for multiple violations.
The EU rules will progressively come into force from July 2024 after the bloc’s member states formally nod them into law.
Brussels is also preparing to introduce proposals for a digital euro later this year.
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