EU approves world's first comprehensive cryptocurrency rules

Reuters reported the information.

At a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels, the rules developed jointly with the European Parliament, which approved them in April, were set.

Regulation of the cryptocurrency market has become more relevant to regulators after the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.

"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 of terrorism," said Elisabeth Svantesson, finance minister for Sweden, which holds the EU presidency.

The rules also require that firms that want to issue, trade, and store crypto assets, tokenized assets, and stablecoins in the 27 EU countries must obtain a license.

Crypto firms say they want certainty in regulation, putting pressure on countries to copy EU rules and on regulators to develop global norms for cross-border activities.

The UK has outlined a phased approach, starting with stablecoins and expanding to unsecured crypto assets later, but there is no clear timetable for implementing the rules.

The US has focused on using existing securities rules to enforce the sector while it decides whether to introduce new rules and who will enforce them.

• On May 6, media reported that the US had launched an investigation into the Binance crypto exchange, which could have helped Russia circumvent sanctions.