The governor of the Bank of France has called for stricter licensing requirements for cryptocurrency companies in France, citing the current turmoil in the crypto markets.
During a speech in Paris on January 5, Francois Villeroy de Galhau said that France should not wait for the upcoming EU cryptocurrency laws to enact compulsory licenses for local digital asset service providers (DASPs).
The European Parliament’s bill on crypto asset markets (MiCA), which establishes a licensing regime for cryptocurrencies, is not expected to enter into force until 2024.
According to a Bloomberg report on January 5, Villeroy addressed the country’s financial industry in his speechstating:
“All the 2022 mess fuels a simple belief: it is desirable for France to move to a compulsory DASP license as soon as possible, rather than just register.”
Currently, crypto companies offering crypto trading and custody must be “registered” with the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), the country’s market regulator.
The DASP license is optional, and those that are licensed are required to meet a series of requirements related to business organization, conduct and financing.
However, Of the 60 crypto companies registered with the AMF, none currently have a DASP license.
Villeroy’s order comes after, in December, Hervé Maurey, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, proposed an amendment to remove a clause that allows companies to operate without a license.
Current legislation in France allows companies to operate without a license until 2026, even if or when the MiCA becomes law and establishes a licensing regime.
Deliberations in Parliament on the amendment will start in January.
MiCA has been making its way in the EU Parliament since September 2020.
On October 10, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs approved the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, result of negotiations between the Council of the EU, the European Commission and the European Parliament.
The final MiCA plenary vote has been rescheduled from late 2022 to February. Member of the European Parliament Stefan Berger explained to Cointelegraph in November that the reason for the delay was “the enormous amount of work for the legal linguists, given the length of the legal text.”
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