EU reaches agreement on ‘landmark’ crypto rules

[swift_post]

Behind a paywall unfortunately.

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Late on Thursday, the European Parliament, European Council and European Commission approved the new provisions on the supervision of cryptoasset service providers, consumer protection and environmental safeguards for cryptoassets, including cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether. Esma will be responsible for oversight of the industry, while a new legal framework will seek to regulate public offers of cryptoassets to protect market integrity.

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) that are offered to the public at a fixed price, such as for tickets to an event or as an item inside a video game, will be exempt from the new rules — although the parliament said these could be introduced under MiCA’s scope at a later date.

 

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The crypto industry has broadly embraced the new rules.

Speaking in Dublin yesterday, Nana Murugesan, vice-president international and business development at crypto exchange Coinbase, said that regulation is the key to unlocking new markets in Europe. The Nasdaq-quoted company, which has offices in the capital, this week announced plans for a significant expansion into Spain, Italy and France where it will apply for e-money licenses.

Mr Murgesan said the company is keen to bring its services, which are currently available in Ireland, Germany and the UK, to other European jurisdictions to increase “output” and “drive revenue” at a time when crypto markets broadly are faltering.

“For this, you need regulatory approval,” he said. “We’re not going to do this until we get the regulatory green light and the compliance green light."

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https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2022/07/01/eu-reaches-agreement-on-landmark-crypto-rules/

[at3n]

The article paints this as positive, even from the Crypto community point of view. I'm not generally opposed to crypto regulation, however the following is concerning to me:

Quote

The parliament and council also reached a provisional agreement late on Wednesday to force service providers to give identifying information on all digital asset transactions, under the so-called transfer of funds regulation.

If this requires a user to provide personal information of the account that they're sending to (e.g. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/06/24/coinbase-users-in-the-netherlands-to-face-additional-kyc-hurdles-when-pulling-crypto-off-platform/), then this is a step too far IMO. If you mandate the doxxing of third-parties, then you need to protect them as well.

When I give my information to whatever online service, I do so assuming that at some point they will be hacked, and I accept the consequences. To make that decision on behalf on another person is not acceptable IMO, and is contrary to the EU's general privacy principles.

If a government causes details of an individual's crypto holdings to be exposed to a hacker, then they should provide insurance if the crypto is subsequently stolen as a result. I presume these regulations don't provide for that (happy to be proven wrong of course).

Edited July 2, 2022 by at3n