It looks like EU authorities are almost ready to sign a legislative package which will regulate the crypto market and its related activities. This comprehensive deal will be signed soon, mostly by the end of June 2022, according to reports.
Representatives of specific institutions in the EU are close to reaching a consensus on MiCA or Markets in Crypto Assets and regulations for the industry. According to an anonymous source, the French who head the EU Council along with the European Parliament are optimistic about resolving issues. These issues relate to the draft moving forward and are expected to be resolved by June 30th. 27 EU member stages and the Parliament are still not in agreement on many MiCA aspects. These include the inclusion of NFTs in the framework, supervising providers of crypto asset services and regulating stable coins.
Discussions are still underway by officials on how they can limit the use of stablecoins for payments. They are debating the introduction of a ceiling on transactions not in euros. This is being talked about after the collapse of Terra in May, which had quite a shocking effect on crypto markets. Officials want to ensure that investors are protected. The other aspect being discussed is the impact of crypto on financial stability.
Another important element being negotiated is how crypto mining impacts the environment. Some lawmakers in Europe insist on including this element in the package. They want to include provisions which ban the energy intense PoW mining. This sparked outrage in the mining community as being tantamount to a bitcoin ban. Language in the provision were removed to appease the mining community.
France, which is currently heading up the EU, is almost ready to accept the Commission’s proposal which requires disclosure energy consumption by CASPs. There is discussion on the inclusion of AML provisions in the legislative packages. Individual governments are also pushing to have a separate set of regulations.
