The European Central Bank (ECB) wants to lay the foundation for the harmonization of crypto regulation in Europe by now setting the rough criteria for the uniform supervision of the industry.
As the ECB’s Banking Supervision Department announced in a corresponding announcement yesterday, the central bank sees itself called to take a leading role, as “the national legal frameworks for cryptocurrencies differ greatly”. In addition, the approaches to harmonization presented so far would also differ significantly. The ECB cites the so-called Capital Requirements Directive of the European Union (EU), which has been in force since 2013, as the decisive guardrail for the approval of crypto companies.
Accordingly, the European Central Bank wants to make distinctions according to the respective business model, internal governance and other relevant characteristics that are important for the approval of crypto companies. This should be done in close coordination with the authorities for the fight against money laundering (AML) and the fight against financial crime of the respective countries in order to be able to obtain the necessary data for an appropriate risk assessment.
“The greater the complexity and / or relevance of the crypto company, the greater the expertise and experience of the management in the field of crypto must be,” as the ECB explains. And further: “Members of the management Board or the Board of Management with relevant IT expertise and risk managers with sufficient experience in this area are needed for more security.“
Finally, the ECB adds that it continues to work on understanding the role of the crypto industry in the European financial system, because this “will continue to be the focus for European banking supervisors in the coming years”. The adoption of the common European crypto regulation Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) is already a first major step towards making the sector tangible within Europe and standardizing rules.
