The European Commission’s finance commissioner has called for a swift resolution to the passage of the region’s proposed digital assets law, known as the Crypto Asset Markets Framework (MiCA). Mairead McGuinness believes this will not only protect investors, but also allow the commission to better enforce sanctions against Russia.
In his speech to the ECON Committee Structured Dialogue, McGuiness acknowledged that the face of money is changing, and that digital currencies and the next digital euro will dominate the sector for the foreseeable future. In addition to bolstering cybersecurity, McGuinness believes the commission must also focus on regulation.
“First of all, I would really like to see a political compromise on our MiCA – the crypto-asset market proposal”, declared McGuinness, Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union at the European Commission.
MiCA is a set of rules first proposed in 2020 and aims to bring digital assets under the jurisdiction of European regulators. The framework creates unified regulations across the region and addresses some of the most pressing issues, including protecting investors at a time when billions of dollars have been swept away in outright scams as well as dodgy projects such as UST and LUNA.
While most of the MiCA stipulations have been agreed, member states are due to meet this month to discuss whether to include NFTs in the new regulations, how to oversee service providers. virtual assets (VASP), stablecoin regulation and a few other facets.
McGuinness believes that in addition to protecting investors, the MiCA could help enforce sanctions.
“Of course, enforcement of sanctions could be made easier if our crypto framework was in place and all crypto-asset service providers were regulated and effectively supervised entities in the European Union,” she said.
When MiCA was first proposed in 2020, it was just a way for the Commission to be proactive and act before investors were taken advantage of. However, according to McGuinness, several events have occurred since then that have made the framework critical. In particular, she noted Russia’s war on Ukraine, the crash of Terra’s LUNA and UST tokens, and the most recent suspension of withdrawals by digital asset lender Celsius as key moments requiring guidance from Mica.
“What I want and can tell you is that the MiCA rules will be the right tool to address concerns around consumer protection, market integrity and financial stability. something that is so urgent given recent developments,” she said.
Bloomberg reports that the Commission is expected to finally adopt MiCA this month. Citing sources with insider knowledge, the outlet reported that the remaining issues currently blocking the framework would be resolved at two meetings this month, one held on June 14 and the next scheduled for June 30.
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