European Commissioner: New crypto rules to protect investors and preserve market integrity

Mairead McGuinness, the European Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability, and Capital Markets Union, has stated that the EU's new crypto regulations will "protect investors and consumers."

Commissioner McGuiness stressed proposed crypto regulations will set "clear rules" for previously unregulated crypto assets, including stablecoins, at the launch of the EU Digital Finance Platform.

She claims that the new regulations will provide "legal certainty for innovators," allowing them to "scale-up their activities in the EU," while also preserving "market integrity and financial stability."

She stated that EU Member States and the European Parliament are now in the final stages of negotiating the proposed regulations.

Commissioner McGuinness stated, "Given how fast the market for crypto assets is growing and how many retail investors it attracts, we really have no time to lose."

She emphasized the importance of better supporting financial innovation, and she added that in order to do so, "close co-operation and convergence among national supervisors" is required.

"Finance is changing dramatically, and regulators and supervisors must make sure they have the knowledge and capacity to be proactive… I worry that if we fail to do that, we risk falling behind – rather than being ahead of the curve," Commissioner McGuinness said.

As part of the EU's AML Action Plan, MEPs from the ECON and LIBE committees adopted their positions on draft legislation requiring crypto transfers to be traced and identified last week.

MEPs voted 93 times in favor of the proposed regulations, which will require all crypto asset transfers to include information on the source and beneficiary of the assets. This information will also be shared with the appropriate authorities.

The goal, according to MEPs, is to "ensure that crypto transfers can be traced and suspicious transactions blocked." Person-to-person transfers made without the use of a trading platform, however, will be exempt from the regulations.

MEPs also removed minimum thresholds and exemptions for low-value transfers.

By fLEXI tEAM