The legal regulations in the cryptocurrency market are leading to interesting developments. According to a European Commission official, FTX’s bankruptcy process and Binance’s $4.3 billion agreement with the US authorities in 2022 provided significant arguments that undermine the provisions of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.
Ivan Keller, a policy officer at the European Commission, made statements at the MoneyLIVE conference in Amsterdam. The news about Binance’s agreement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) emerged the night before Keller’s speech and was considered a precursor to the full-scale implementation of MiCA in 2024.
Keller provided updates on the process of addressing MiCA within the European Union. The legal regulations established by MiCA, which is considered one of the most comprehensive frameworks for the global cryptocurrency market, will be applied to all EU member states.
Keller explained that the main objective of MiCA is to promote innovation in this field while addressing risks for consumers. He stated that the scope of the legal regulations will include cryptocurrencies and will be applied to cryptocurrency service providers aiming to combat illegal transactions in the market.
MiCA came into effect in June 2023 in the EU, but the implementation of rules regarding asset-referenced tokens and e-money sector targeting predominantly stablecoin companies is expected to be addressed in June 2024. Following this process, rules for cryptocurrency service providers, including trading platforms, wallet providers, and cryptocurrency exchanges and services, will come into effect in December 2024.