Council of EU Adopts Crypto Regulation MiCA

The Council of the EU today officially adopted MiCA, a regulation on markets in crypto-assets, completing the final step in its legislative process. It makes the EU the first major jurisdiction in the world to have a comprehensive crypto law. Next, MiCA will be published in the EU Official Journal, likely in June or July 2023, and will take effect a year later.

In addition, the Council also adopted new rules to trace crypto-asset transfers and prevent money laundering.

MiCA, which introduces a harmonized regulatory framework in the EU, aims to protect investors, preserve financial stability, while allowing innovation and fostering the attractiveness of the crypto-asset sector. The new rules cover issuers of utility tokens, asset referenced tokens and stablecoins, as well as crypto service providers such as exchanges and wallet providers.

Elisabeth Svantesson, Minister for Finance of Sweden, said, "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."