On Oct. 10, the Markets in Crypto-Assets bill was passed, with 28 members of the European Union Parliament voting in favor. The new legislation addresses key crypto elements such as consumer protection, anti-money laundering , environmental impact and business accountability.
Furthermore, the bill imposes a hard cap of 200 million euros worth of daily trading volume – a number much lower than most markets trade. It is here that MiCA restricts European crypto companies’ potential for both innovation and competition. “There’s very little done to ensure that operations of CASPs are technologically secure, but there are plenty of provisions around anti-money laundering and monetary sovereignty. Which feels a little out of order for an asset class that is mostly adopted by retail investors and represents around 1% of the world’s total assets,” says Mathieu.
Decentralized autonomous organizations that are decentralized in name only could have a short future. Numerous entities market themselves as decentralized, yet have legal persons who directly or indirectly control the organization through voting rights, tokens or smart contracts.