EU Commissioner Presses Legislators to Hasten Cryptocurrency Regulations

The official stressed the necessity of a unified, planet-wide regulatory framework during her trip to the United States.

As the EU moves forward with the legislative phases of its historic MiCA cryptocurrency framework, the head of its financial services is imploring their US counterparts to stay in pace in order to make sure the impending regulations will be globally consistent, instead of confined to individual regions.

Mairead McGuinness, the European Commission's financial services commissioner, emphasized to the Financial Times on Oct. 18 that the regulatory efforts should have a global approach. “We do need to see other players also legislating,” said McGuinness, adding, “We need to look at global regulation of crypto.”

During her visit to Washington DC, Commissioner Maureen McGuinness had the opportunity to meet with Republican Representative Patrick McHenry and Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, one of the co-sponsors of the U.S. crypto bill. After the meetings, she said that she was feeling encouraged, and that it seemed like the U.S. lawmakers were agreeing and moving in ''the same direction''. 

After the European Council voted in favor of it on Oct. 10, the MiCa was approved by the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON). Completion of legal and linguistic checks, Parliament's approval of the latest version of the text, and publication in the official EU journal will allow the crypto policies to come into effect starting in 2024

In spite of multiple bills on crypto in general and stablecoins, in particular, being presented to the public, the U.S. Congress has come to a halt in their discourse. This could be due to the upcoming midterm elections that could affect the power configuration among the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Financial Times also mentions the contrasting views between the Democratic and Republican parties when discussing stablecoins.