The European Parliament has backed the EU’s crypto rules, which are due to be rolled out in phases from July next year. They are the world’s first set of comprehensive laws designed specifically for the crypto asset sector, and the EU’s financial services chief, Mairead McGuinness, said she hopes other countries follow suit.
Regulation has become a key talking point for crypto firms. Some have been vocal in their criticism of what they say is a lack of clear regulation in the United States. In the latest escalation of its fight with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the exchange Coinbase filed a legal challenge on Tuesday to try and make the SEC create new rules for crypto. But the SEC has said that crypto firms need to comply with the laws that already exist.
Meanwhile, in the world of central bank digital currencies, the EU’s financial services chief said that a digital euro introduced by the European Central Bank wouldn’t be a “Big Brother” project seeking to control citizens. People who are worried about that should “calm it down a little”, she said. The ECB said something similar in January: that it wouldn’t want to gather data about a digital currency’s users. (Reminder: a central bank digital currency would be a way for people to have digital money issued directly by the central bank, rather than commercial banks. Read more here.)
To be sure, the ECB hasn’t decided yet whether it will introduce a digital euro, and it wouldn’t be before 2026 in any case. European banking lobbies have said that a central bank digital currency could take deposits and business away from commercial lenders, but an ECB board member this week said that the ECB could “compensate” banks.
Meanwhile, China has been pushing ahead with its own digital currency, the digital yuan or “e-CNY”. State media reported that a city, Changshu, will pay state employees their salary in the form of the digital yuan from May. Reuters spoke to three people who had been receiving the e-CNY, but they all said they don’t find adequate scenarios to spend it in their daily life.
