European Commission official: MiCA aims to promote innovation while addressing risks to consumers, financial stability and monetary sovereignty

Ivan Keller, a policy official at the European Commission, said in an interview at the MoneyLIVE conference in Amsterdam that the collapse of FTX in 2022 and the recent $4.3 billion settlement agreement between Binance and US authorities provide strong arguments for the regulations of the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) legislation. "I think we have had some unfortunate confirmations that we are going towards strong regulation," Keller emphasized. "Our position is that this rulebook will mitigate some risks, and importantly, give regulators clearer powers to supervise these entities so that they can also mitigate these risks."

Keller emphasized that the goal of MiCA is to promote innovation while addressing risks faced by consumers, market integrity, financial stability, and monetary sovereignty. The regulation applies to issuers of crypto-assets and providers of crypto-asset services, aiming to address market abuse issues.

Note: MiCA will come into effect in June 2023, but rules applicable to "asset-referenced tokens" and "e-money tokens" that are mainly in the stablecoin category are expected to come into effect in June 2024.