The tough approach, originally targeting Facebook’s now-abandoned Libra project, could see rivals to fiat currency outlawed in the bloc after certain thresholds are hit.
Officials may be siding with the views of European Union finance ministers, who have proposed tough measures aimed at stopping the likes of Facebook's now abandoned libra stablecoin from replacing the euro and require issuance to halt if transactions top EUR 1 million per day.
The document with the matter is labelled as a ‘non-paper,’ meaning it does not reflect the commission’s formal position, and is one of a number documents being produced to influence discussions on topics such as whether crypto firms should be able to register from tax havens.
Lawmakers and governments are attempting to finalise the landmark crypto law known as the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA), with late-stage talks behind closed doors that are brokered by the commission.
National ministers, who meet in a body known as the Council of the EU, want to stop rivals to fiat from operating if they become too popular. Under their plans, regulators could order the issuers of any stablecoin exceeding EUR 200 million and EUR 1 million transactions daily to cease issuances until these figures come back below the threshold.
MiCA introduces measures to ensure crypto assets are well governed, honestly offered to investors, and have decent reserves, particularly when they reach significant scale. The extra proposals would apply to widely used stablecoins that are tied to a basket of assets, rather than those fixed to an individual fiat currency such as the euro.
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