EU's top policymaking body seeks more regulation of Bitcoin

Rage Comment : This is the implementation of the results of the EU emergency meeting at the end of last year. According to Reuters at the time, the EU finance ministers will urge the EU executive body, the European Commission, to enforce new measures to regulate digital currency transactions. The specific measures that may be taken will not be seen until June, but the core should still be to strictly implement KYC and AML. Considering that many major European Bitcoin exchanges have already strictly implemented KYC strategies, the targets will be smaller Bitcoin exchanges or Eastern European Bitcoin exchanges such as BTC-e. Therefore, it will not have much impact on the Bitcoin market.

Translation: Prince Gong

The European Council, the EU’s top decision-making body, today proposed to develop a set of regulations for digital currency exchanges and wallet service providers by June this year, according to an announcement from a meeting held in Brussels today.

The European Council, also known as the EU Summit or EU Summit, is the highest decision-making body of the EU. The European Council is composed of the heads of state or government of the EU member states and the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission.

The news reflects recent moves by the European Commission to further regulate exchanges and wallet service providers. On February 2, the Commission said it was seeking to “help confirm the identity of those who trade virtual currencies” and end “anonymity on such exchanges.”

Valdis Dombrovskis

At a press conference today, European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters,

"By June we will be proposing additional measures ... to put in place better ways to control payments using virtual currencies and anonymous prepaid cards."

Dombrovskis went on to tell reporters that the Commission was prepared to monitor and possibly ban transactions from "high-risk countries" from entering the EU.

He said,

"By June, the Commission will have an 'EU blacklist' of these countries."

According to a press release published yesterday, the Commission is seeking “fast-track” legislative action related to the “sector of virtual currencies.” The move comes as the EU’s legislative body, the European Parliament, is considering its own approach to digital currency regulation.