- The European Banking Authority is hiring crypto experts.
- The watchdog will supervise stablecoin laws going live on Sunday.
- DeFi monitoring will help the EU decide on further regulation.
Crypto firms are not alone in preparing for new European laws — so are regulators.
The European Banking Authority — the European Union’s financial watchdog tasked with overseeing stablecoin regulations across the bloc — has opened up vacancies for crypto experts.
The EBA is seeking to add three roles: A specialist to monitor crypto and DeFi markets, a policy expert to help categorise crypto assets according to the new legal classifications, and another expert to supervise the implementation of crypto and cybersecurity laws.
The Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, or MiCA, has almost reached its first deadline.
Rules for stablecoins will go live on June 30, while rules for crypto service providers will go live from December.
That means regulators and crypto platforms targeting the EU markets will drive out stablecoins that do not comply with reserve requirements, governance rules and safeguarding measures.
The industry still has a lot of questions about how some of the rules will work in practice.
“The EBA is also continuing to work with national supervisory authorities to bring about a consistent implementation and application of the regime,” an EBA spokesperson told DL News.
DeFi monitoring
The EBA was responsible for ironing out MiCA’s implementation details over the past years, and published the final guidelines in June.
Now that the final guidance has been issued, the banking supervisor’s job now is to ensure national authorities follow it.
The EBA will also play a role in shaping any additional legislation for DeFi.
Decentralised protocols are left out of MiCA, but the European Commission will need to report on DeFi and decide whether it needs to be regulated.
The EBA monitors developments in crypto markets and may contribute findings to the Commission.
Crypto braces itself
Crypto exchange Bitstamp said on Wednesday it will delist euro-denominated stablecoins that don’t comply with MiCA ahead of the fast-approaching deadline.
Other exchanges are also taking precautionary measures.
Binance, for example, said it would limit certain stablecoins in its services.
But MiCA is only one of the new regulations the crypto industry needs to prepare for.
The EBA will also help supervise the Digital Operational Resilience Act, also mentioned in one of the vacancies.
This law raises the bar for IT security for financial institutions, including crypto service providers, shooting up regulatory costs for companies.
Firms will need to comply with DORA by January.
This story has been updated with the EBA’s comments.
Have a tip about crypto in Europe? Contact the author at inbar@dlnews.com