EU Council formally endorses Markets in Crypto Assets regulation (MiCA)

27 member states have today wholly supported the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation or MiCA during today’s voting. This marks the last step for the MiCA regulation after the EU parliament endorsed the regulation in April.

The MiCA regulation will now be formally become a publication in the EU Official Journal before entering into force 20 days later. However, it will take 12-18 months for the MiCA policies to take full effect and start being used in the EU’s crypto market. The 12-18 months allow operators to comply with the policies, failure to which they risk being struck out from Europe.

First-of-its-kind crypto regulation

The adoption of this legislation is in response to citizens’ anticipations to set safeguards and standards for the use of blockchain technology as articulated in Proposal 35(8) of the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe.

The MiCA marks the start of a new era to officially regulate crypto operators in Europe.

Today’s vote expectedly passed after rising support for the bill among EU lawmakers and ministers alike. The bill had to get support and pass official votes from two sides of the EU bloc – the EU’s parliament and council. While in the parliament the bill had some members who were against it, the bill has received an overwhelming 27 members’ support in the council.

Today’s vote means that Europe is the first major jurisdiction around the globe to implement standard crypto rules and install a standard licensing policy just as stressed by the co-founder of Ethereum-based DeFi platform Swarm, Philipp Pieper, in April.