LONDON Reuters -- The European Union will seek an agreement on ground-breaking rules for regulating digital asset regulation as the rout in bitcoins puts pressure on authorities to keep an eye on the sector.
National operators in the EU are required to show controls for combating money laundering because of the fact that cryptocurrencies are largely unregulated.
A deal would put the EU ahead of the global regulatory pack by giving issuers of cryptocurrencies and providers of related services a passport to serve clients across the EU from a single base while meeting added capital and consumer protection rules.
The clarity on rules and passporting could attract firms from London, according to industry officials. Two of the United States and Britain have yet to approve similar rules, according to a report by the United States and Britain.
Representatives from the European Parliament and EU countries met to thrash out a deal on the markets in the MiCA law, which would come into force around the end of 2023.
Three issues remained, including non-fungible token NFT supervision, and energy consumption, according to a source who was involved in the talks.
There is a chance that a deal will focus on including only token-like NFTs in the scope of MiCA, with authorisation and supervision of criptocurrencies at member state level. The European Commission will assess the energy footprint of cryptocurrencies, the source said.
A MiCA licence would be granted to firms operating in an EU state for 18 months after the start date.
After the collapse of TerraUSD and Luna last month, cryptocurrencies were under pressure, with the major U.S. criptocurrency lending company Celsius Network this month freezing withdrawals and transfers.
This month, it collapsed to around $17,600, and is currently trading around $20,100, which is well below its late March level of $48,200, leaving investors nursing losses.