FTX collapse, Binance’s US settlement provides strong case for MiCA regulations

cointelegraph.com:

The collapse of FTX in 2022 and Binance’s recent $4.3 billion settlement with U.S. authorities provide a strong argument for the provisions of the European Union’s markets in crypto-assets (MiCA) legislation, a European Commission official said in an interview.

Ivan Keller, policy officer for the European Commission, spoke to Cointelegraph at the MoneyLIVE conference in Amsterdam. News of Binance’s high-profile settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) had broken the night before Keller’s keynote and served as a pertinent reflection point for MiCA’s full-scale application in 2024.

“I think we’ve had several unfortunate confirmations that kind of go down that path of robust regulation. FTX was definitely one of the big ones, and now recently with Binance,” Keller explained.

The policy officer also gave an updated view of the path toward MiCA’s full application across the European Union. Hailed as one of the first comprehensive cryptocurrency legal frameworks globally, the regulations set out by MiCA will apply to all EU member states.

Keller stressed that MiCA’s objective is to promote innovation while addressing the risks to consumers, market integrity, financial stability and monetary sovereignty. The scope of the regulations applies to issuers of crypto-assets and crypto-asset service providers and aims to tackle market abuse.

MiCA entered into force in June 2023, but the application of rules governing “asset-referenced tokens” and “e-money tokens,” which largely fall under the umbrella of stablecoins, is expected to take effect in June 2024.

After that, rules for “crypto-asset service providers,” which include trading platforms, wallet providers, cryptocurrency exchanges and services, will take effect in Dec.