EU Agrees on Landmark Crypto Authorization Law, MiCA

Stefan Berger, the parliamentarian in charge of seeing MiCA through the EU's complex legislative process, tweeted confirmation that the Parliament, Commission and Council have agreed to pass the MiCA crypto bill. The bill requires that cryptocurrency issuers publish a kind of technical manifesto called a "white paper," to register with the authorities and to keep proper bank-style reserves for stablecoins (cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of an asset such as sovereign currencies like the euro). Large stablecoins will be subject to strict operational and prudential rules and will be restricted if they are widely used as a means of payment, with a trading cap of €200 million per day. In addition, the bill does not prohibit PoW-like technologies, and crypto asset providers should in the future disclose energy consumption and the environmental impact of their assets, based on regulatory technical standards.