The world’s first complete set of laws to regulate crypto assets received final approval from European Union states on Tuesday, building pressure on nations like Britain and the United States to play catch-up.
Regulations were hammered out with the European Parliament and passed in April. The European Union’s finance ministers met in Brussels to ratify the guidelines.
The regulations are anticipated to go into effect in 2024.
Following the demise of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, policymakers now see regulating cryptocurrency as being more vital.
“Recent events have confirmed the urgent need for imposing rules which will better protect Europeans who have invested in these assets, and prevent the misuse of the crypto industry for the purposes of money laundering and financing of terrorism,” said Elisabeth Svantesson, finance minister of Sweden
According to the regulations, companies must seek a licence in order to issue, trade and safeguard cryptoassets, tokenized assets and stablecoins in the 27-country bloc.
By making transactions more transparent, ministers have taken steps to prevent tax evasion and exploitation of cryptoasset transfers for money laundering.
They decided that regardless of the amount being transferred, service providers must start requesting the names of senders and beneficiaries of crypto assets starting in January 2026.
