The world’s first comprehensive framework for crypto regulation apply from 30 December 2024.

The European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets Law (MiCA), which was published in the EU Official Journal on Friday, 9 June 2023, and enters into force within 20 days, gives the operators and governments across the bloc time to prepare for the effective enforcement of this legislation as of 30 December 2024. 

By that time, the crypto wallets and exchanges will have to obtain an operational license and follow the updated anti-money laundering rules pertaining to crypto transactions.

It also provides for better protection of investors against scams.

MiCA is the world’s first comprehensive legislation on cryptocurrencies and consists of two separate legislative bills, which requires crypto platforms to identify and keep records of their customers when they transfer funds. It also introduces new guidance and financial obligations for stablecoin issuers. 

The EU in on the vanguard of crypto regulators and the bloc took the lead in regulating the industry before other, more developed markets, did so. In the United States, for example, the Securities and Exchange Commission has suied Binance and Coinbase for their failure to register as traders of regulated financial instruments, in spite of absence of a specific law describing what cryptocurrencies and tokens exactly are.