The European Union (EU);has officially signed;its region-wide crypto regulations, the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), into law nearly two months after it was approved by the European Parliament (EP).
The move made the region one step closer to being the first major jurisdiction to regulate the crypto industry on such a scale.
The signatures were put by the European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and Swedish Rural Affairs Minister Peter Kullgren.
- The pair also signed a separate anti-money laundering;rule, which mandates crypto service providers to confirm their customers' identity when they transfer funds.
- The MiCA will formally become an EU law after it is published in the Official Journal of the European Union, which is expected to happen within June.
- The law's provisions related to stablecoins will come into effect as of July 2024, while other aspects regarding the crypto asset service providers will enter into force as of January 2025.
- Since all the provisions will be in effect 12 to 18 months later, the crypto firms will still have one to two years to comply with the new rules.
- The rules in MiCA will apply to all the 27 member states in the EU bloc.
- The MiCA's scope is also expected to see an expansion to cover crypto lending, staking, decentralized finance (DeFi), and;NFTs.;
The long-awaited MiCA;was finally approved;by the lawmakers at the EP, the legislative body of the EU, with a final vote on April 20 after three years of development.
- In May, the regulation;was also approved;by the EU's Economic and Financial Affairs Council, which includes member states' finance ministers.