Bitcoin illustration on euro banknotes.
Nicholas Economu | NurPhoto via Getty Images
EU countries on Tuesday finally approved the world’s first comprehensive set of rules governing crypto assets, putting pressure on countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States to catch up.
A meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels approved the rules after discussions with the European Parliament, which approved them in April.
Regulating cryptocurrencies has become more urgent for regulators following the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Elisabeth Svantesson, Sweden’s finance minister, said: “Recent events confirm the urgent need to implement rules to better protect Europeans investing in these assets and prevent misuse of the cryptocurrency industry for money laundering and financing terrorism.”, which holds the EU presidency.
The rules require licenses for companies that want to issue, trade and secure crypto-assets, tokenized assets and stablecoins in 27 countries.
Cryptocurrency firms say they want regulatory certainty, putting pressure on countries to replicate EU rules and on regulators to create global norms for cross-border activity.
The U.K. outlined a phased approach, starting with stablecoins and expanding to unbacked crypto assets, but there is no firm timeline.
The U.S. has been focused on taking enforcement action in the sector using existing securities rules while deciding whether to introduce bespoke new rules and who will apply them.
Hester Peirce, one of the commissioners of the U.S. derivatives regulator CFTC, said last week that some federal and state authorities are trying to figure out what oversight role they can play in the crypto space.
“We kind of wandered in the desert,” Pierce said at a meeting.