The European Union (EU) is on the verge of wrapping up the long-awaited Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) bill. A recent report indicates that the EU parliament will finalize the new guidelines before June.
Accordingly, the EU Parliament approved the bill at the start of the year, which seeks to create a uniform regulation for digital assets across member states.
The EU established the MiCA bill in 2020 to outline a holistic regulation for the crypto industry across the European Union bloc.
A recent Bloomberg report indicates that EU leaders are to meet twice this month. The proposed meeting is to iron out issues relating to the new bill and clear the path for its smooth passing.
However, the bill was fast-tracked following the crash of the Terra network, which increased the calls for additional protection for investors’ funds.
Divided Opinion Over Stablecoin Regulation
Despite several demands to speed up the bill passage process, sources in the know revealed that all is not as rosy as it appears. According to the statement of one insider to Bloomberg, the lawmakers are undecided on some parts of the regulation.
The point of dissatisfaction with the bill, per the Terra collapse, is stablecoin regulation. The lawmakers are debating reducing the circulation of stablecoins, especially in non-EU transactions.
Additionally, lawmakers are working on introducing a threshold to the number of tokens allowed in transactions.
Meanwhile, experienced cryptocurrency commentator Patrick Hansen noted that there is a reason why stablecoins are about to be regulated. According to him, the aim is to stop substituting the Euro currency in the EU bloc.
Furthermore, lawmakers are divided on whether NFTs should be included in the new bill.
Crypto’s Environmental Impact is a Concern
The MiCA bill may have addressed the Proof-of-Work (PoW) issue by planning to ban it, but the problem persists. As per Bloomberg’s report, the environmental impact of PoW mining is of great concern to lawmakers.
As a result, the EU Parliament might be forced to request more disclosure about energy usage from crypto miners. Governments in most countries of the world are interested in the energy consumption of the crypto industry. New York recently voted in favor of a blanket ban on cryptocurrency mining.
The anti-money laundering regulation is another area of interest that the EU decision-makers may include. The money laundering bill was approved in the early days of the year, which will subject crypto service providers to strict transaction reporting.
The anti-money laundering move against crypto firms was met with a backlash by the industry players. Many expressed displeasure with the proposed bill, calling it an agenda against the crypto industry.
However, some critics believe that the industry should not be subject to the same laws as the traditional financial sector.
Meanwhile, regulating the entire crypto space has its unique challenges, and how far the new regulation goes will be known in the coming weeks.