EU Monetary Affairs Committee Votes on Digital Currency Regulations

Members of the EU Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs voted today to adopt the recently-released report on virtual currencies. According to an EDCAB (European Digital Currency & Blockchain Technology Forum) report, the vote passed with 54 members approving the measure and only 1 member disapproving, in addition to 2 absentee members.

The report, which was released in February by EU Parliament member Jakob von Weizsäcker, called for the formation of a digital currency task force that would look into the challenges posed by the new technology. Additionally, the task force proposed by Weizsäcker would be overseen by the Commission, and would make recommendations on regulatory issues concerning virtual currencies.

However, unlike the recent recommendations by the UK finance ministry to exempt wallet providers from strict oversight, Weizsäcker’s report recommends that online wallet providers within the EU should be brought under the same KYC/AML regulations as digital currency exchanges.

EDCAB Founder Siân Jones, who moderated the recent EU Parliamentry discussions on virtual currencies, said that today’s vote represents a “significant step forward” by EU lawmakers on the issue of digital currency regulations.

The report also passed a vote by the EU Internal Market for Consumer Protection Committee –  held on the 22nd of April – following a passionate speech by Lithuanian MEP Antanas Guoga, who called on all MEPs to obtain some bitcoin, so they can gain a better understanding of the technology.

Today’s developments pave the way for a potential vote by all 751 EU Parliament members in May.

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