Last Quarter Just Around The Corner
The last quarter of 2024 is just around the corner. Tomorrow is the day ... and with the start of the last quarter of 2024, the European Union is also stepping up its efforts to regulate crypto. From 2025 onwards, the MiCA law will apply throughout the European Union. Of course, nice words are being spoken. I am not going to translate the entire law into understandable language, for anyone interested in the MiCA law it can be found everywhere on the internet. Every European citizen should read this law in any case.
Most Important Points
Let's take a look at the most important points from the MiCA law, which are:
Consumer Protection: Crypto companies must meet strict requirements to protect consumers. This includes separating customer funds from company assets, ensuring clear complaints procedures, and ensuring that there is no market manipulation. This will better protect consumers against fraudulent practices.
Licensing Requirement for Crypto Service Providers: Companies that offer services such as crypto exchanges or wallets must have a license to operate in the EU. This means that there will be stricter controls on these companies, making the sector safer. In addition, information about who is behind crypto projects, such as stablecoins, must be public and transparent.
Transparency and Accountability: Crypto projects must publish a whitepaper explaining all the risks and details about their coin or service. This should help consumers make better informed choices, while companies can be held liable for misleading information.
Stricter Rules for Stablecoins: Stablecoins, such as digital currencies whose value must remain stable, will be more strictly regulated. For example, companies that issue stablecoins must be able to demonstrate that the value of their coin is always backed by real assets.
Nothing Wrong, Right?
When you read this, you might be tempted to think that there is nothing wrong with it, right? But the other side of the story is that this is mainly good for the crypto giants, and depending on how these MiCA rules are interpreted, this could even have consequences for Hive. After all, Hive has a private wallet for each user, and in addition, Hive also has a stablecoin, the HBD. But how can you ever tell who is behind a decentralized blockchain like Hive? And how can Hive prove that HBD is backed by real assets? The MiCA legislation could ensure that many small crypto companies will leave the EU for a more favorable crypto climate in other corners of the world. Leaving the EU with only the crypto giants, and with the big banks invading crypto, which will change crypto into TradFi for good. And that could also mean the end of the crypto bull markets as we knew them.
Will It Be Good For Average Crypto Enthusiasts?
Perhaps I am too negative, it could well be. As everyone knows by now, I am not an expert. But generally speaking, something that sounds 'good for the consumer' is in reality usually only good for a select group of people and the average crypto enthusiast will only experience disadvantages from it. I hope I'm wrong!
US Elections
In the meantime, the elections in the US are also around the corner. In just over a month, we will know whether Donald Trump will be the highest man in the US again, or whether Kamala Harris will win.
Now everyone knows that Trump encourages crypto, and he hoped to prove that with "the Trump family project" World Liberty Financial, which by the way is not making any major financial waves yet and is mainly colored red through the days. Yet it could be that the crypto community would want to vote for Trump precisely because of this connection with crypto. For a long time, Harris' position on crypto was not known. Which of course could ensure that people who support crypto did not want to vote for her for that reason. In the meantime, Harris seems to have expressed her support for the crypto world, will it have an effect? Nobody knows, we will see in November who will be the new president of the United States.
Crypto Revival After Elections?
The fact is that crypto does not like uncertain situations. At the moment, the situation is uncertain everywhere. The relatively short history of crypto shows us that after the elections in America, there is often a market revival. Regardless of whether the president is Democrat or Republican. Let's hope that this year it will also be the reason for the big bull run.
I am ready for a big crypto revival. And I hope you are ready too?