On Tuesday, EU governments approved the world’s first comprehensive crypto asset regulations, putting pressure on Britain and the US to catch up.
In April, the European Parliament approved guidelines negotiated by EU finance ministers in Brussels. The rules are expected in 2024. After FTX collapsed, regulators needed to regulate crypto.
“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 crypto industry for the purposes of money laundering and financing terrorism,” said Elisabeth Svantesson, finance minister for Sweden, which holds the EU presidency.
After FTX collapsed, regulators needed to regulate crypto.
“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 crypto industry for the purposes of money laundering and financing terrorism,” said Elisabeth Svantesson, finance minister for Sweden, which holds the EU presidency.
Licenses are needed to issue, trade, and secure crypto assets, tokenized assets, and stablecoins in the 27-country union.
Making transactions traceable helped ministers fight tax evasion and money laundering with crypto asset transfers.
From January 2026, service providers must gather the names of crypto asset senders and beneficiaries regardless of the amount transmitted.
There was also agreement on revising rules on how member countries collaborate in taxation to cover crypto-asset transactions and exchanging information on advance tax judgments for the wealthiest persons.
Crypto companies want regulatory stability, pressuring countries to adopt EU guidelines and regulators to establish global standards for cross-border operations.
Britain plans to start with stablecoins and expand to unbacked crypto assets, but there is no timeline.
While deciding whether to implement new securities rules and who would apply them, the US has enforced existing securities laws.
Last week, CFTC commissioner Hester Peirce said federal and state authorities are considering their crypto sector supervisory roles. “We are wandering in the desert a bit,” Peirce told a conference. Licenses are needed to issue, trade, and secure crypto assets, tokenized assets, and stablecoins in the 27-country union.
