EU agrees on crypto-bank capital rules

In addition to MiCA regulations, the European Union is introducing new rules to strengthen the banking sector. However, Parliament and the Council have yet to agree.

The European Union (EU) reached political agreement on June 27 on new bank capital legislation to keep unhedged cryptocurrencies out of the traditional financial system. The new rules "support the strength and resilience of banks operating in the Union," Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson said in a statement.

The committee suggested that a bank's exposure to specific crypto assets should not exceed two percent and generally be less than one percent. The statement also confirmed that the agreement includes a "transitional regime for supervision of crypto assets." Details, however, remain to be seen. The EU agreed to the agreement "ad referendum," it added. Therefore, both the European Parliament and the Council must confirm the rules before they can be officially adopted.

Similar regulations in the EU

Meanwhile, similar regulations are already in place for crypto service providers in the EU in the form of the MiCA Regulation. Crypto providers (so-called Virtual Asset Service Providers, or VASPs for short) need a license if they want to operate in the EU. While service providers have yet to implement the rules contained therein, there are already calls for a second regulation.