Cryptocurrency investors in Europe are currently not protected under European Union regulations, and it will take several years for these protections to be implemented. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has stated that the investor protections outlined in the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) will not come into effect until at least December 2024. This means that investors must be prepared for the possibility of losing all their invested funds in crypto-assets. Even after December 2024, there is no guarantee that investors will be fully protected by MiCA until as late as July 2026. During this transitional period, crypto service providers may still operate without a license, limiting the regulatory and supervisory safeguards available to investors. The ESMA warns that even once MiCA is implemented, there is no such thing as a “safe” crypto asset, as many of these assets are highly speculative. The ESMA’s recent warnings come after the release of a second consultative paper on MiCA in October 2023. MiCA aims to regulate crypto assets in Europe by amending existing laws, and it was introduced in 2020 in response to the growing public interest in cryptocurrencies.

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Information	Details
Geography	Europe
Countries
Sentiment	negative
Relevance Score	1
People	None
Companies	European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), National Competent Authorities (NCAs)
Currencies	None
Securities	None