On Tuesday, the European Council unanimously approved the European Union’s groundbreaking Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework, marking another step towards creating a legal framework for digital assets.
To operate inside the EU, cryptocurrency businesses like exchanges and wallet providers will need to apply for a license under the MiCA laws, which are among the first global regulations of their kind. Issuers of stablecoins must also maintain enough reserves.
All 27 finance ministers from EU member states voted in favor of the bill. Since the European Parliament approved the MiCA Act on April 20, the final agreement was highly anticipated.
Non-fungible tokens and decentralized finance are two examples of digital asset subsets that are not covered by the recently passed law. Future iterations of the legislation are likely to include these ideas.
New tax transparency regulations were also agreed upon by the finance ministers, requiring Bitcoin service providers to disclose their customers’ cryptocurrency holdings to the relevant tax authorities.
MiCA’s adoption by the Council follows calls from the cryptocurrency industry for more definitive rules in the world’s biggest economy.
On Monday the SEC filed with the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to argue that it is not bound by any deadline set by Coinbase’s petition.
Wallets