EU Seeks Feedback on MiCA Framework Revisions

The European Commission has opened a comment period to revise and refine the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislative framework, which was established in May. The current MiCA framework only covers asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) and e-money tokens (EMTs), but stablecoins and decentralized finance (DeFi) are now being considered.

Katie Harries, director and head of policy for Europe at Coinbase, stated that the crypto industry is seeking more regulatory clarity in these areas. 'MiCA 2.0' has been dubbed as the expected new framework.

The consultation on MiCA 2.0 includes four parts: regulatory scope and definitions for crypto assets other than ARTs and EMTs, requirements for EMTs and their issuers, defining legal frameworks for crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), and topics that MiCA 1.0 didn't cover.

The use of stablecoins as a mainstream retail payment instrument or wholesale settlement rail could significantly affect how policy is made. 'If stablecoins are treated mainly as crypto trading instruments, the focus is likely to remain on investor protection and market integrity,' said Catarina Veloso, director of regulatory and compliance at Notabene.