In a meeting of the Managed Funds Association in Paris on Tuesday, the chairman of the IOSCO, the global securities regulatory body, said the group will be proposing the first set of international rules for crypto assets, Reuters reported.
That day, finance ministers from European Union member states approved a comprehensive set of rules to regulate crypto assets, and according to IOSCO chairman Jean-Paul Servais, once these rules are finalized, the recommendations “will deliver the first globally-coordinated set of rules” for cryptocurrency.
The IOSCO is made up of global securities regulators like the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Services Authority in Japan, as well as regulators from Britain, France, and Germany.
Servais said the recent collapse of crypto asset firms like FTX, along with “recent market events,” have made him determined to deliver on a regulatory agenda for crypto assets. He said IOSCO’s recommendations will clarify how to apply “existing principles and guidance” to “cross-border virtual assets and services providers.”
Reuters reported on Tuesday that during an EU finance minister meeting in Brussels, member states gave their final approval to the European Parliament’s regulatory rules on crypto assets approved last month, putting pressure on the United States and Great Britain to follow suit.
Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson said that recent events, including the collapse of FTX, “confirmed the need for imposing rules” on crypt assets to protect European investors while preventing the crypto industry from being used for money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
The rules will require crypto firms looking to issue, trade, or safeguard crypto assets, stablecoins, or tokenized assets in the European Union to obtain a license.
The regulatory rules also take steps to crack down on tax evasion as well as the use of crypto transfers for money laundering by making transactions traceable.
