EU Member States Could Agree on a Unified Crypto Law by the End of June

Key takeaways:

• The European Union is close to coming up with an agreement to regulate cryptocurrencies amongst its 27 member states.
• Representatives are expected to meet on June 14th and June 30th.
• Issues yet to be resolved on cryptocurrencies include whether to include NFTs in the proposed rules, how to regulate stablecoins, the supervision of large crypto-asset service providers, anti-money laundering clauses, and the environmental impact of PoW blockchains.

The European Union is close to coming up with a united agreement between its 27 member states on how to regulate cryptocurrencies within the region.

According to a report by Bloomberg, both France (who chairs the EU) and the European parliament are optimistic that the remaining issues of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) proposed regulatory package will be resolved by the end of this month. Furthermore, representatives tasked with the matter will be meeting on June 14th and June 30th.

EU is Yet to Agree on NFTs, Stablecoins, and Large Crypto-Asset Service Providers

MiCA was first introduced in 2020, and a unified agreement will usher in a new era of regulation in the European Union. However, the recent events surrounding the collapse of UST have accelerated the need to protect investors and assess crypto’s impact on the region’s financial stability. Consequently, the member states of the European Parliament are looking to agree on the following contentious issues moving forward.

• Proper regulation of stablecoins, including the possibility of limiting their use as a payment method through introducing a ceiling for transactions not denominated in Euros.
• Whether to include Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in the new set of rules.
• The supervision of large crypto-asset service providers such as crypto exchanges.
• The inclusion of money laundering clauses in the MiCA package.

The EU to Assess Crypto Mining Impact on the Environment

In addition, according to sources familiar with the matter, EU legislators are looking to push for the new set of rules to factor in the environmental impact of crypto mining activities focused on digital assets that run on Proof-of-work algorithms.