EU agrees on landmark regulation to clean up crypto ‘Wild West’

[superadmin]

• The European Commission, EU lawmakers and member states hammered out an agreement on reforms Thursday.
  
• The new law, known as Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), is the first attempt at creating a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets in the region.
  
• EU lawmaker Stefan Berger said the rules will “put order in the Wild West of crypto assets.”
  

EU officials on Thursday secured an agreement on what is likely to be the first major regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency industry.

The European Commission, EU lawmakers and member states hammered out a deal in Brussels after hours of negotiations. The move came a day after the three main institutions finalized measures aimed at stamping out money laundering in crypto.

The new rules come at a brutal time for digital assets, with bitcoin facing its worst quarter in more than a decade.

The landmark law, known as Markets in Crypto-Assets, or MiCA, is designed to make life tougher for numerous players in the crypto market, including exchanges and issuers of so-called stablecoins, tokens that are meant to be pegged to existing assets like the U.S. dollar.

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