French Regulators to Fast-Track’ MiCA for Registered Firms
- France offers both basic and enhanced types of authorization. However, none of the registered businesses have opted for the stricter authorization level.
- Earlier this year, French authorities considered requiring all firms to apply for a comprehensive license to prepare them for MiCA.
L’Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) reported on Friday that French regulators are exploring a “fast-track” approach to get registered crypto companies recognized under new European Union-wide guidelines. The AMF praised the European Parliament for enacting Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), a historic crypto policy, last week.
France tightened its registration requirements for crypto companies following the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and in anticipation of MiCA. Regulations for the newly approved MiCA are expected to be enforced later in 2025.
The AMF noted that “this regulation will help to increase the competitiveness of French and European players by creating a harmonized framework in Europe and to ensure better protection for investors.”
The AMF also added that there will be “consideration of a possible fast-track modular licensing” between France’s current crypto regulation regime known as PSAN and MiCA, which has significantly stricter governance, consumer protection, and financial stability standards. The regulator added that it would ensure that its broad guidelines are modified to ease the switch to MiCA.
The AMF plans to strategize ways to align European regulations on documentation, custody reserves, and conflicts of interest. Crypto organizations currently registered in France, such as Binance and Bitstamp, will be given an additional 18 months under MiCA to conform to the stricter European standards.
MiCA is a unified structure for regulating cryptocurrencies and other digital assets in the European Union (EU). The legislation covers a number of areas of the cryptocurrency market, such as digital asset custody, issuance, and trading.
MiCA is expected to increase legal clarity and predictability for companies working in the cryptocurrency sector and enhance consumer protection by establishing minimum requirements for digital assets.
Some of the important provisions of MiCA include the mandatory authorization of all crypto asset service providers, the regulations governing their custody, the transparency standards for whitepapers, and improved investor protection measures.
I have covered some exciting stories in my career as a journalist and find blockchain-related stories very intriguing. I believe Web3 will change the world and want everyone to be a part of it.
