As the Plenary vote for the landmark Pan-European crypto legislation, Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), has been rescheduled from the end of 2022 to February 2023, Stefan Berger believes that to be a matter of technical necessity. Responding to Cointelegraph's request for more info, Berger, a member of the European Parliament responsible for procedural handling of MiCa, explained that the delay has nothing to do with the legislation’s content: “I view this as a purely technical necessity and not as a political move. I have no reason to believe that the support for the MiCA has changed in the European …

Smaller cryptocurrency exchanges and start-ups could benefit from the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) regulation, according to Martin Bruncko, Binance’s executive vice president of Europe. Cointelegraph had a one-on-one interview with Martin Bruncko during the Web Summit conference in Lisbon early in November 2022. Heading up Binance’s operations across Europe, Bruncko offered unique insights into the exchange’s growth across the continent and its perspective on the regulatory environment. The European Parliament Committee passed the MiCA crypto policy on Oct. 10, which aims to create a one-size-fits-all regulatory framework for the industry across the 27 countries that make up the …

The European Union (EU) bill aiming to regulate cryptocurrencies could result in crypto influencers being charged with market manipulation if they fail to disclose potential conflicts of interest. The Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) bill, which has been approved by the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on Oct. 10, is expected to be legislated after a few more hurdles. Patrick Hansen, stablecoin issuer Circle’s director of EU strategy and policy, has been closely following the passage of the bill and brought attention to a section in a Nov. 1 tweet that referred to public comments made without …

Despite the turbulence that broke out in the crypto market this summer, there is an important long-term marker that should be considered in any complex assessment — the combination of adoption and regulation. The latest report by EUBlockchain Observatory, named “EU Blockchain Ecosystem Developments,” tries to measure this combination within the European Union, combining the data on each and every member country from Portugal to Slovakia. As the original report counts more than 200 pages, Cointelegraph prepared a summary with the intent to capture the most vital information about the state of crypto and blockchain in Europe. Cointelegraph started from …

In the weeks following new sanctions from the European Union, Binance has kept its doors open for non-sanctioned Russian nationals, but that does not mean that the firm isn't complying with EU sanctions, according to Binance’s newly-appointed sanctions executive. Western sanctions against Russia have been a major challenge for Binance from day one, and the firm has been working hard to comply, Binance’s global head of sanctions Chagri Poyraz told Cointelegraph in an interview. Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Binance has comprehensively blocked several non-government-controlled territories of Ukraine, including annexed regions like Donetsk and Luhansk, Poyraz said. …

Some cryptocurrency exchanges continue onboarding Russian nationals despite the latest Western sanctions against Russia, but not without certain restrictions. In late September, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev witnessed the nation’s first regulated fiat-to-crypto purchase by a local commercial bank, the Eurasian Bank. The transaction involved a local crypto exchange called Intebix, which allows retail clients to buy crypto with the local currency, the Kazakhstani tenge (KZT). Intebix is not limited to Kazakhstani nationals, and the crypto exchange is willing to service foreigners coming to the country, according to Intebix co-founder and CEO Talgat Dosanov. He emphasized that Intebix’s crypto transactions are …

Bitcoin (BTC) sagged with United States equities at the Oct. 19 Wall Street open as markets awaited tech earnings. Eurozone sees fresh all-time high inflation Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD circling $19,000 after falling steadily overnight. Still trapped in a tight range, the pair offered few cues to traders seeking advantageous short-term plays, while some sources argued that overall, current levels represented solid buy levels. “With little calendar events till the next FOMC in early November, crypto continuing to lag behind equities, and skews near flat, protective downside structures are the cheapest levels they have been …

The European Union (EU) released a package of documents Oct. 18 relating to an action plan for implementing the European Green Deal and the REPowerEU Plan, both of which are aimed at energy savings by digitalizing the energy sector. The European energy planners have cryptocurrency in their sights along with myriad other energy users. The REPowerEU Plan was announced in May as a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has had a profound impact on European energy supplies. The Russian crisis was an opportunity for “fast forwarding the clean transition,” the European Commission said. “Controlling the energy consumption …

While the European Union proceeds with smoothly passing its landmark crypto framework, the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), through the legislation phases, its financial services chief urges the American counterparts to keep in step to ensure the forthcoming regulations will be global, not local. On Oct. 18, the European Commission’s financial services commissioner Mairead McGuinness emphasized to the Financial Times that the regulatory efforts should take a global character. “We do need to see other players also legislating," said McGuinness, adding, "We need to look at global regulation of crypto.” These remarks were made during McGuinness’ visit to Washington DC, where …

Nine months into the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, sanctions against the latter have continued to grow at an aggressive pace. This time around, legislators for the European Union announced that they are introducing a complete ban on all cross-border crypto payments between Russia and its citizens. To elaborate, a prohibition of all “crypto-asset wallets, accounts, or custody services, irrespective of the amount of the wallet” has now been initiated by the EU in response to Russia’s continued annexation of Ukrainian land, repeated mobilization of troops within the country and threats of nuclear escalation. It is worth noting that previous …

Despite the turbulence that broke out in the crypto market this summer, there is an important long-term marker that should be considered in any complex assessment — the combination of adoption and regulation. The latest report by EUBlockchain Observatory, named “EU Blockchain Ecosystem Developments,” tries to measure this combination within the European Union, combining the data on each and every member country from Portugal to Slovakia. As the original report counts more than 200 pages, Cointelegraph prepared a summary with the intent to capture the most vital information about the state of crypto and blockchain in Europe. We started from …

Crypto wallet provider Blockchain.com is the latest company to soon cease to provide services to Russian nationals due to the latest sanctions by the European Union. Blockchain.com has notified its users that it’s going to shut down accounts of Russian nationals in two weeks, the local news agency RBC reported on Oct. 14. According to the report, Blockchain.com will allow Russian users to withdraw their funds until Oct. 27, 2022. After that date, the accounts of Russian nationals are reportedly going to be blocked. The statement emphasized that Blockchain.com is currently prohibited from providing custodial and reward services to Russian …