European Union Financial News

An open letter to lawmakers in the European Union was issued by more than 160 executives from tech companies around the world urging careful consideration of artificial intelligence (AI) regulations not to stunt the industry or markets.

The European Commission announced on June 28 that it has proposed a legislative plan for a digital euro, aiming to make it a widely accepted and easily accessible form of payment.

European Union (EU) lawmakers have reached an agreement to move ahead with the controversial European Data Act, which has previously drawn criticism from the crypto community. The deal was confirmed by the EU’s Commissioner for Internal Markets, Thierry Breton, in a tweet calling it a “milestone in reshaping the digital space.”

Binance has decided to reverse its plan to delist a number of privacy coins in Europe after it said it has revised operations in order to comply with local regulations. 

The Australian Treasury’s token mapping of digital assets will adopt a “tech agnostic” and “principles-based” approach in order to define crypto assets, according to a Treasury official.

The European Union debit card provider for Cryptopay has lost its Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license, according to a June 22 email sent to its customers. The company recommends to EU cardholders that they should immediately spend or transfer funds from their cards. Funds held in the app’s accounts are safe, Cryptopay told Cointelegraph.

The animus of the entire crypto world is focused on Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler.

The digital euro holds something in store for every stakeholder, Governor of the Banque de France François Villeroy de Galhau told commercial bankers on June 22. Disintermediation is not in the works, he said at the Global Official Institutions Conference hosted by French multinational bank BNP Paribas.

CACEIS Bank, the asset servicing arm of Crédit Agricole and Santander, has received a crypto custody license in France, according to the regulator’s website on June 20. 

The details behind Binance’s failed efforts to register for a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license in the Netherlands remain unclear due to the confidentiality requirements of the Dutch central bank’s supervisory laws.

Consumer protection groups from the European Union (EU) have urged regulators to conduct investigations on artificial intelligence (AI) models behind popular chatbots. 

France's markets watchdog, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), said it fully supports globally coordinated, clear regulation for decentralized finance (DeFi) in order to protect users while fostering the novel and innovative sector's growth. 

Slovakia will codify the right to use cash as a method of payment after a vote to amend the nation’s constitution passed in parliament on June 15. 

Once again, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) became the week’s headliner. Its intention to freeze the entirety of Binance.US’s assets got a reality check from U.S. district court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who advised the regulator and the crypto exchange to negotiate a deal bilaterally. 

Macro Markets, hosted by crypto analyst Marcel Pechman, airs every Friday on the Cointelegraph Markets & Research YouTube channel and explains complex concepts in layperson’s terms, focusing on the cause and effect of traditional financial events on day-to-day crypto activity.

The European Union’s financial watchdog will launch a 3-part consultation process for the recently adopted Markets in Crypto Assets framework, or MiCA.

Cryptocurrency payments service Ripple (XRP) continues to see global adoption of its payment services despite a long-winded legal battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission over its XRP token.

Cyprus unit has applied to be removed from Cyprus' register of crypto asset service providers, the securities regulator website showed on Wednesday, in a move Binance said would allow it to focus on its larger European businesses. It was unclear when Binance applied to deregister. The exchange, the world's biggest, announced its registration with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission in October 2022. A source at the regulator said on Wednesday that Binance never launched its business in Cyprus. The Cyprus registration allowed Binance to offer spot trading, custody and other services in compliance with Cyprus's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing rules, the exchange has previously said on its website. A spokesperson for Binance said it was pulling back on Cyprus to sharpen its focus on its other companies in the European Union ahead of the rollout of the EU's crypto asset regulations (MiCA).

The European Parliament has passed the EU AI Act, a sweeping legislative framework for governance and oversight of artificial intelligence technologies in the European Union.

A proposed digital euro would have to be usable offline from day one to safeguard privacy, according to a draft law obtained by CoinDesk. 

The European Union’s executive branch will unveil plans for a digital euro that would require the European Central Bank to set limits on its use, according to a report from Bloomberg News.