Even With a Plethora of EU Committees, European Crypto Laws are Still in Chaos

EU is an institution now infamous for over-regulating everything under it, and the same philosophy is being applied to the crypto ecosystem. There are a massive amount of committees who are giving pieces of advice and researching ways to regulate this novel technology.

The European Banking Authority, also known as EBA, released a report with a new set of rules to improve the regulatory landscape for virtual currencies and blockchain technology in the EU. The EBA recommends to the European Commission to carry out more analysis and determine which is the correct response that the EU should give to the regulatory framework.

However, despite this individual countries have taken steps to regulate cryptocurrencies on their own.

Netherlands

The continues to make efforts to reduce anonymous crypto selling. In a piece of advice that the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets and De Nederlandsche Bank have handed over to Minister Hoekstra of Finance, they argue that the government must, therefore, introduce a licensing system. The minister immediately announced that he would take over the advice.

The Dutch banking institution claims that such measures will help deter money laundering related activities as well as prevent terrorists from using “crypto for funding their arms etc”.

Switzerland

The capital of cryptocurrencies in Europe resides in Zug, Switzerland. The Crypto Valley was ranked as the fastest growing tech hub in Europe with digital assets playing a huge role in the rankings.

The Swiss also pay some employees using cryptocurrencies. They have plans to take a uniquely creative approach to blockchain regulation and are expected to draft a proposal for it before the first quarter of 2019 ends.

Swiss National Bank President, Thomas Jordan believes that cryptocurrencies are going to change policymaking among central banks and governments. He commented:

“As long as we have an influence on the value of this unit of account, so the change of interest rates, the change of the size of the balance sheet, the exchange rate, etc., the power of monetary policy will remain.”

Malta

Malta could be considered to be one of the most progressive countries when it comes to regulations of crypto.

Switzerland, as well as Malta, have a clear legal framework for virtual currencies and blockchain technology to allow companies to grow in their territories.

Liechtenstein

A recent survey shows that the bear market in the crypto and blockchain space did not affect the number of blockchain companies opening in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Liechtenstein is another unassuming country trying to climb the ranks of cryptocurrency-friendly municipalities is The Principality of Liechtenstein.

Because it is so close to the Swiss banking giants to its left, the country has access to a wide breadth of important international banking assets that some believe will be essential to the cryptocurrency projects that it hopes to facilitate within its borders.

But because the country is not accountable to the laws of Brussels, it also has the opportunity to take some regulatory liberties when interacting with the European Union—a market rife for more cryptocurrency involvement.