French, Austrian, and Italian regulators urge the EU to strengthen coordination of cryptocurrency regulation

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, after discovering differences in the implementation of cryptocurrency regulations among countries, financial regulators in France, Austria, and Italy have urged the EU's top regulatory body to directly supervise large cryptocurrency companies and tighten related rules.

The EU will implement the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) at the end of 2024, requiring cryptocurrency companies to obtain a license in at least one EU member state in order to provide services across the entire EU. In a position paper released on Monday, the financial market regulators of the three countries stated that this approach exposes "significant differences" in the supervision of companies among countries, allowing companies to exploit loopholes. They suggested transferring the supervisory authority over the largest industry players to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). They also indicated that the initial implementation of MiCA has already shown limited regulatory convergence, making it difficult to ensure unified EU standards. An ESMA spokesperson responded that efforts are being made to ensure regulatory consistency, and that last year it was already considered necessary to reconsider areas where EU-level regulation should be strengthened. In addition, the three national regulators may take preventive measures to mitigate risks and have also called for strengthened regulation of global platforms, cybersecurity, and token issuance.