Enact MiCA to make Americans jealous, Europe official says

TGIF!

European legislators are proud to have penned one of the first comprehensive crypto rulebooks.

So proud, in fact, they want US peers to seethe with envy.

Let’s dive into it.

Is MiCA making the US jealous?

The US crackdown on crypto and regulation by enforcement is infuriating the industry.

Meanwhile, over in Europe, legislators are proud to have penned one of the first comprehensive crypto rulebooks.

Lawmakers hoping that the set of rules known as MiCA will be a blueprint for the rest of the world.

“I hope they’re a bit jealous,” Ondřej Kovařík, a centrist member of the European Parliament told DL News on the sidelines of a Brussels blockchain event yesterday.

He was talking about his peers in the US.

“If we want to really make them jealous, we need to fully apply and properly implement MiCA. This is our task for 2025,” says the Czech lawmaker.

He was also one of the negotiators of MiCA in parliament.

Show don’t tell

But MiCA is not yet live. Right now, regulators are ironing out the details on how the industry will need to follow the rules.

“If the global companies would see that it is actually working, and it delivers what we expected from MiCA to deliver, then I think we can actually have success,” Kovařík said.

“At this point, I will be rather cautious. I think on paper, we have a good regulation. But the real success lies in its good application.”

Regulators are handing out consultations to experts to figure out the best way to go about implementing the laws.

One challenge: how to make sure countries apply to rules equally to prevent regulatory arbitrage.

MiCA covers a licensing regime and rules about topics including stablecoin issuance, plus consumer protection and anti-market abuse.

Passporting regime means countries can get one licence to access the whole EU market — a big bonus for firms struggling with EU’s currenct fragmented landscape.

Crypto market movers

• Bitcoin is down 1.9% in the last 24 hours, to $37,154.
• Ethereum rose by 5.2% in the same period, at $2,088.

What we’re reading

• Slow regulation. Build blockchain instead, European officials urge — DL News
• Supreme Court Crypto Fight With SEC Welcomed by Ripple CEO Garlinghouse — Bloomberg
• CME says crypto ‘flight’ helped drive record futures volume as exchange leapfrogs Binance — DL News