The European Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) bill is one step closer to implementation, with local regulators exploring tougher policies on Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and residents of some European countries restricted from accessing privacy-enhanced tokens.
Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, signed the MiCA bill into law. Peter Kullgren, Sweden’s Minister of Agriculture, also signed the document on behalf of the Swedish presidency of the European Council. The ceremony took place on May 31. Next, the bill will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and then come into force. However, crypto companies operating in the EU will have another 18-month transition period, so that the full provisions of MiCA will take effect in the second half of 2024.
The European Banking Authority (EBA) is preparing to amend legislation to address CFT and AML regulations. Particular attention is planned to be paid to the activities of crypto-asset service providers (CASP). Crypto-assets and payment services, which contain privacy enhancing features, are also of concern to the regulator. The agency initiated a public consultation process regarding the submitted amendments, which will last until August 31, 2023. As a result, the adopted recommendations will become part of the regulatory practice under MiCA.
Coincidentally, Binance reps announced plans to exclude all privacy tokens from the list of available assets for users from France, Italy, Poland, and Spain. The restrictions will take effect on June 26 and cover the three largest tokens of this type: Monero (XMR), Dash (DASH), and Zcash (ZEC). And nine less well-known tokens: Decred (DCR), Beam (BEAM), Horizen (ZEN), Verge (XVG), Navcoin (NAV), Secret (SCRT), PIVX (PIVX), Firo (FIRO), and MobileCoin (MOB). This became known from a letter from Binance, sent to customers in France, in which the decision is explained by the requirements of local regulators.
In the EU, the adoption of cryptocurrency legislation is in its final stage. Therefore, European financial companies associated with cryptocurrencies are actively expanding the staff of compliance specialists with experience in the blockchain industry. The European Commission recently launched a regulatory sandbox to help public and private sector blockchain projects receive regulatory guidance.
