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EU’s final vote for the landmark MiCA regulation has been delayed until April due to “technical” issues. The Block reported that the delay is “caused by translating issues” and will ultimately force the EU regulators to wait more before drafting MiCA’s implementation rules. This is the second time the vote has been delayed.
The Translation of MiCA into 24 Official EU Languages Causes the Vote Delay
The final vote for Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), EU’s comprehensive crypto market regulation, has been postponed until April. According to the Block, the delay comes due to issues related to the translation of the nearly 400-page regulation to the 24 official languages of the bloc.
“MiCA is tabled to be voted by the plenary in April and to my knowledge, the delay is technical, caused by translating issues.”
– said an EU official familiar with the matter.
This is the second time the vote has been postponed. The final vote was originally expected to transpire by the end of 2022 but was delayed until February 2023, also due to translation challenges.
The Postponement Forces EU Regulators to Wait Before Drafting Implementation Rules
The delay means that the EU financial regulators cannot begin drafting implementation rules until the issues are resolved. Regulators, including the European Securities and Markets Authority and the European Banking Authority, have 12 to 18 months to outline the technical rules of the MiCA regulation once it receives approval.
MiCA, which is seen as a landmark regulation in EU law, aims to establish a framework for future legislation and regulations concerning the crypto market’s taxation, marketing, and user protection. The Council presidency and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on MiCA in June 2022 amid a broader crypto market crash due to tough macroeconomic conditions and LUNA implosion.
EU officials said MiCA would have even prevented the FTX collapse, which sent shockwaves through the crypto industry in November, sending several crypto businesses into bankruptcy. However, some argued that MiCA has a large loophole allowing non-EU companies to serve EU clients without complying with additional regulations.
Meanwhile, MiCA is not the only regulation that is being delayed. The voting session for the Transfer of Funds Regulation (TFR), which demands recipients and receivers to include Know Your Customer (KYC) information in their crypto transactions, has also been delayed until April. TFR is supposed to be implemented in tandem with MiCA.
This article originally appeared on The Tokenist
