EX-CFTC Chair Says EU’s MiCA Bill May Hurt US Crypto

Ex-Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chief Chris Giancarlo has said the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) bill might end up exporting European crypto regulation and damage U.S. chances at making more concrete rules.

Speaking at a summit Thursday (July 28), Giancarlo said he was “concerned” with how fast the bill was evolving, per a CoinDesk report. The MiCA bill hasn’t been made law yet, but it is working on providing regulatory clarity for the crypto industry in Europe.

“It’s got some very expansive provisions that would, in a sense, export its approach to crypto assets to the United States,” he said.

Giancarlo added that the U.S. needs to “continue its momentum” and get its own framework out there, which would “make clear that for U.S. activities there will be U.S. regulation, not regulation coming out of Europe.”

However, the U.S. has been unable to nail down any concrete rules for the digital assets, and MiCA might be able to fill the gap.

Additionally, CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham has said it’s “very hard” to change things back if the market structures change surrounding “all that enormous money and investment of capital.”

There has been a great deal of buzz over the proposals for digital asset regulation, including Mairead McGuinness, the EU commissioner for financial services, saying that passing MiCA was urgent because the rules are “the right tool to address the concerns about consumer protection, market integrity and financial stability.”

Speaking before the European Parliament earlier this year, McGuinness said EU sanctions do apply to crypto in spite of concerns that the coins could be used to circumvent them.

She said implementing the sanctions could be easier if there were good rules in place, adding that MiCA is necessary to regulate the crypto assets and crypto asset service providers, due to various crises like recent coin collapses and volatility.