The European Union’s crypto regulatory framework, MiCA, comes into full force, heralding significant changes for the industry.
Major events like the ICO boom and the Implosions of Terra and FTX have made it impossible for regulators and lawmakers to ignore the crypto industry, especially as its adoption continues to grow.
The European Union is a pioneer in promoting responsible innovation with its Regulatory Framework for Crypto Asset Markets (MiCA), which was adopted in April 2023 after almost three years of development.
While the implementation of the rules was gradual and the rules for stablecoin issuers came into force in June 2024, all parts of the framework have now come into force as of December 30, 2024. Here’s what MiCA brings to the table and how it is reshaping the EU’s crypto landscape.
What is MiCA?
MiCA’s main goal is to ensure consumer protection in the crypto space while providing regulatory certainty for businesses across the 27-member bloc.
MiCA seeks to achieve this by setting transparency and accountability standards for crypto asset issuers and crypto asset service providers (CASPs). The rules allow market participants to obtain a license in one country and spread their services across the bloc.
Important MiCA provisions
The rules mean new disclosure obligations for issuers of crypto assets. In particular, before launching a new asset, issuers must prepare a detailed white paper with important details about its tokenomics, risks and consensus mechanism.
This white paper must be submitted to a national authority, which does not have to explicitly approve the token launch, but reserves the authority to…
