On Tuesday, the European Union’s (EU) finance ministers approved historic new crypto regulations. The Markets in Crypto Assets legislation (MiCA) was unanimously adopted by the EU Council, which is made up of the 27 member states, making the EU the first significant region in the world to have a crypto licensing system. Additional anti-money laundering on crypto transaction procedures were also agreed upon during the meeting.
To service consumers in the EU, crypto companies must be authorised by the EU and adhere to regulations against money laundering and terrorism funding, as specified by MiCA, which has already received approval from EU member states and the European Parliament.
Political agreement on its primary components was reached in June, but administrative delays have occurred. Political agreement on its primary components was reached in June, but administrative delays have occurred as reported earlier by TodayQ. After over a year of their release in the office journal of the EU, major clauses come into force little which will most likely happen in June or July this year.
After ambassadors approved the tax and MiCA measures last week, agreement to the laws was mainly anticipated. Elisabeth Svantesson, minister for finance of Sweden who chaired the talks as Council Presidency stated, “I am very pleased that today we are delivering on our promise to start regulating the crypto-assets sector. Recent events have confirmed the urgent need for imposing rules which will better protect Europeans who have invested in these assets, and prevent the misuse of crypto industry for the purposes of money laundering and financing of terrorism.”
In an effort to prevent stashing money in covert foreign wallets, ministers also approved additional measures later during the day that would compel cryptocurrency providers to reveal information about their clients’ holdings to tax authorities. These new restrictions will be shared across the EU.
According to Valdis Dombrovskis, executive vice-president for an Economy that Works for People, “Crypto-assets and e-money have great potential to drive economic activity and innovation but they also carry risks of reducing transparency and enabling tax evasion or fraud. Updating our tax rules to address these issues will help national administrations to collect tax more efficiently and keep up with evolving technology as Europe moves forward with its digital transition.”
The European Commission initially suggested the new tax laws, known as DAC8, in December using an OECD model. The most recent version of the legislation was made public on Friday. As the European Parliament has not yet provided its advisory opinion on the matter, they will not become legislation immediately.