European Union TAKES THE LEAD from USA - 27 Nation Alliance Proposes Regulatory Standards for Cryptocurrency...
The European Union's Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation is progressing towards completion fast, and by all indications will become law in the 27 countries that make up the European Union, possibly before the end of the year.
The response from the crypto industry as well as critics has been generally positive, with many believing the law has found the right balance between protecting consumers from scammers and other criminal conduct, empowering enforcers to go after those criminals, all while acknowledging the future potential of the technology and the importance of allowing legitimate use to proceed with as little interference as possible.
Europe Takes The Lead After Biden Administration Fails to Show Ability to Understand Crypto Market...
The EU clearly plans to take the lead when it comes to setting the world regulatory standards of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. In online crypto communities some European traders are now suggesting that "the US should just follow our lead".
This new determination to be the standard-setters seems to have ignited when the Biden administration shared their "first comprehensive framework for the responsible development of digital assets" - which basically asked government agencies to submit answers to their completely open ended question of what they believe they need to properly regulate the industry, this warned the rest of the world that current US leadership appears to be unqualified to regulate crypto (and probably all tech) as senior citizens fill many of the vital roles.
White House seems "only focused on the risks and not the opportunities" that the cryptocurrency sector has to offer....
Both Biden and officials appointed by him seem to have taken media clickbait articles as fact, and often remarks focus on addressing only the negative aspects in the crypto world.
But law isn't just about stopping the bad guys, it's also about protecting the good ones. Which is why lawmakers shouldn't be looking at anything but hard data and reality to form their opinions.
In reality, about 2.1% of crypto is being used for illegal purposes like money laundering or purchases of items found on the darkweb, according to the firm that works with the FBI analyzing blockchain data for illegal activity, Chainalysis.
According to the UN, as much as 5% of ALL global currency is being used to facilitate something illegal, meaning Fiat currency, specifically paper cash, remains the preferred format of currency in the criminal underworld.
The European Union recently just slipped in harsh new rules regarding Dollar-pegged stablecoins...
The current draft version of the bill aims to reduce the market cap, and limit the number of transactions using dollar-pegged stablecoins like USDT, USDC, BUSD, etc.The current version of Europe's proposed regulations would limit USD pegged stablecoin transactions to no more than $200 million in total value each day, or a total of 1 million transactions of any amount.
These limits are ALREADY exceeded on most days, so what are traders expected to do at this point? Well, to be clear, these limits are only on stablecoins pegged to the dollar - stablecoins\pegged to the Euro will be free from any limits on their usage.
Currently 75% of all transactions in crypto involve a US dollar pegged stablecoin...
With this, the US loses an opportunity they could have sized that potentially could help maintain the strength of the Dollar for decades to come, at least according to some opinions.
The US may learn the hard way - either take the lead and "set the standard" yourself, or expect when other nations do it they will make sure their own interests are served first...
How the US could still be first to implement comprehensive crypto regulations...
There are some major flaws in the he most current version of the EU's 'Markets in Crypto Assets' regulatory proposal...
-----------
Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP // Breaking Crypto News