EU’s Landmark Crypto Law MiCA Published in Official Journal

The European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets law (MiCA) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) on Friday, starting the clock ticking for landmark crypto licensing rules to take effect.

The full law, published alongside related legislation requires crypto wallet providers to identify their customers when they transfer funds, offers crypto companies, such as exchanges and wallet providers, a license to operate across the bloc, and introduces new governance and financial requirements for stablecoin issuers.

This comes as crypto operators in the U.S. face significant uncertainty, with the Securities and Exchange Commission suing Binance and Coinbase (COIN) on the basis that the tokens traded on their platforms constitute regulated financial instruments.

Publication of the 200-odd pages of law signals formal passage of a bill onto the EU’s statute book. In legal terms the two laws enter into force in 20 days’ time, and its provisions apply on December 30, 2024, with certain provisions taking effect slightly earlier on June 30, 2024.

The political outlines of both laws were agreed last June, though formal agreement suffered numerous delays as the final text had to be translated into the EU’s many official languages.