World Looks to Europe as Leader in Cryptocurrency

The world’s third-largest economy, the European Union, strengthened its dominance in the realm of cryptocurrency on May 16 with the adoption of the Markets in Crypto-Assets act (MiCA). Meanwhile, the United States is failing to provide certainty to markets in a world rapidly embracing digital currencies.

Finance ministers from all 27 EU member states expressed their support for MiCA in a May 16 vote. Like many news outlets, Reuters hailed the legislation as “the world’s first comprehensive rules for cryptoasset markets.”

‘Recent events’: After the collapse of crypto exchange platform ftx in November 2022, the EU accelerated work on regulating this sector.

Recent events have confirmed the urgent need for imposing rules which will better protect Europeans who have invested in these assets and prevent the misuse of crypto industry for the purposes of money laundering and financing of terrorism.
—Elisabeth Svantesson, Swedish finance minister

What will change?

• As with standard currencies, anti-money laundering rules will now be applied to all cryptoassets.
• Users of cryptocurrencies will have to provide additional information about the nature of their activities under the guise of monitoring their impact on the “environmental and climate footprint.”
• From 2026 on, platforms must declare the names of all senders and recipients of cryptoassets regardless of the value of the transaction.

Left in the dust: Reuters noted that while the EU has become the international leader for crypto regulations, “others like Britain and the United States are further behind” (May 10). “We are wandering in the desert a bit,” stated Hester Peirce, a commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “If we built a good regulatory regime, people would come. I think you will see that with MiCA. We are shooting ourselves in the foot by not having a regulatory regime in the U.S.” For now, the United States is left to play catch-up and is under pressure to follow Europe’s lead.

The failure of American banks has created economic uncertainty in Europe. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry commented on this in a Key of David episode titled “The Last Holy Roman Empire.” He stated that the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank created “a lot of urgency in the European Union” and contributed to the realization that “they need to tighten their rules and make the regulations even more severe.” The collapse of ftx seems to have had a similar effect on Europe.

In 1984, Herbert W. Armstrong, editor in chief of our predecessor magazine the Plain Truth, wrote that a severe banking crisis in the United States “could suddenly result in triggering European nations to unite as a new world power larger than either the Soviet Union or the U.S.”

Today, the EU’s combined gross domestic product is $16 trillion, making it the third-largest economy in the world. A digital euro is already in the works, which will likely employ blockchain technology as well. These developments would give a united Europe full power to monitor and control the transactions of its citizens. Despite the strict control European governments will be able to exercise, a severe crisis in the U.S. could push investors to withdraw from the United States in hopes of finding greater stability in regulation-rich Europe.

When this financial crisis arrives, it will help unite Europe into the prophesied “ten kings” of Revelation 17:12.

Watch “The Last Holy Roman Empire” to gain essential understanding of how a united Europe will be the outcome of America’s looming financial crisis.