The European Union has reached a significant milestone in cryptocurrency regulation as it formally enacted the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation, positioning the bloc as a pioneer in tailored rules for the sector.
The signing ceremony was led by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and Swedish Rural Affairs Minister Peter Kullgren, alongside the enaction of an anti-money laundering law that mandates crypto providers to verify customer identities during fund transfers.
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The Swedish government, which holds the EU presidency, shared the news on Twitter, highlighting the legislative talks and confirming the inclusion of MiCA, the fund transfer rules, and two unrelated regulations on trade with Ukraine.
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The MiCA regulation is expected to come into effect in the coming weeks after being published in the EU's official journal, which is likely to occur in June.
Its provisions grant crypto exchanges and wallet providers a license to operate across the 27-member bloc and require stablecoin issuers to hold appropriate reserves.
These provisions will be enacted within 12 to 18 months.
MiCA was initially proposed by the European Commission in 2020 and faced controversy when discussions arose about including environmentally focused provisions that could have potentially banned the proof-of-work technology used by Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).
While the industry generally welcomed the regulations, attention has now shifted to the future stages of EU crypto regulation, which may encompass areas such as staking, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized finance (DeFi).
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