The European Parliament adopts crypto-focused MiCA legislation

After two consecutive delays, the European Parliament has finally conducted the final vote on the Markets in Crypto-Assets Act, known as MiCA. Now the legislation, introduced for the first time in 2020, should grant approval from the European Council to be published as an effective regulation. 

On April 20, immediately after the voting, MiCA’s rapporteur and the Member of the European Parliament reported that the bill has been adopted:

Habemus MiCA! Das EU-Parlament hat die #Regulierung angenommen. Ein Meilenstein für die #Krypto-Asset-Industrie. Danke an alle Kollegen und auch für den ganzen Support der Community hier! #MiCA @btcecho @DECointelegraph pic.twitter.com/avPmOE2Vl0

— Stefan Berger (@DrStefanBerger) April 20, 2023

With MiCA, European policymakers aim to set a standard regulation to establish harmonized rules for crypto assets at the EU level, thereby providing legal certainty for crypto assets. The regulation will establish guidelines for the operation, structure and governance of issuers of digital asset tokens. It will also offer rules on transparency and disclosure requirements for issuing and trading crypto. 

The regulation is being perceived mostly with cautious optimism. There are, however, a number of issues with the 400-paged document, assembled for the most part several years ago. The current draft generally lacks any mention of decentralized finance (DeFi), fails to address the growing sector of crypto lending and staking, and doesn’t specify any rules for nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

Related: The limitations of the EU’s new cryptocurrency regulations

At the recent panel during Paris Blockchain Week 2023, Janet Ho, head of EU policy at Chainalysis, pointed out that the success of MiCA would be dependent on robust feedback and the reworking of certain parts of the documentation. He was joined by Nadia Filali, Caisse des Dépôts Group’s blockchain program director, who stressed the importance of governments, regulators and industry participants developing the regulation together.

However, EU officials emphasize the safety of the investors as the major task of MiCA. As Joachim Schwerin, one of the principal economists within the European Commission, told in his interview with Cointelegraph, MiCA should minimize the negative consequences of incidents like the insolvencies of FTX and BlockFi in the future.