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Euro Parliament Sets Crypto Market Rules


FILE: Representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin are seen in this illustration taken Aug. 10, 2022.
FILE: Representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin are seen in this illustration taken Aug. 10, 2022.

LONDON - The European Parliament has overwhelmingly backed the European Union's first set of rules to regulate crypto-asset markets.

"This regulation brings a competitive advantage for the EU," said Stefan Berger, the lawmaker who steered the rules through parliament.

Parliament voted to approve the world's first comprehensive set of regulations for issuing and trading crypto-assets such as bitcoin.

"The European crypto-asset industry has regulatory clarity that does not exist in countries like the U.S.," Berger said.

EU states have already given the nod to the rules which will be rolled out from mid 2024, requiring firms that issue and trade crypto-assets to be licensed by a national regulator, giving them a "passport" to serve customers across the 27-member country bloc.

"I hope that our rules could become a model for other countries," the EU's financial services chief, Mairead McGuinness, said in a debate on the rules on Wednesday.

Parliament also backed new rules for tracing transfers of cryptoassets like bitcoins and electronic money tokens.

It applies the international "travel rule" already used in traditional financial transactions, meaning information on the source and recipient of the cryotoasset will have to accompany and be stored on both sides of the transfer to help combat money laundering.

The tracing rule also covers transactions above 1,000 euros from "self-hosted" wallet or crypto address of a private user.

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