Dutch financial regulator promises strict treatment of crypto business under MiCA – Regulation Bitcoin News

The financial regulator in the Netherlands intends to maintain a tough stance on the Dutch digital asset sector despite looser European rules. The head of the agency that oversees the industry doesn’t think crypto is good news and highlights the flaws in an article.

Head of the Dutch Financial Supervisory Authority says cryptos are difficult to understand, vulnerable to fraud

Most countries in the West are “tightening the reins” on crypto, but a total ban is “difficult to imagine”, noted the chairman of the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets (AFM), Laura van Geest, in a column devoted to cryptocurrencies in the business newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad.

Despite the tightening in the final phase of negotiations on EU Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation, the upcoming regulations remain less stringent for cryptocurrencies than for existing financial products, management noted, stating:

We don’t think crypto is good news. They are difficult to grasp, vulnerable to deception, fraud and manipulation.

Laura van Geest then pointed out, as critics usually do, that the value of cryptoassets is mainly based on speculation and prices can fluctuate significantly. “We have not hidden our opinion. Parties in the financial sector have been made aware of their responsibilities and consumers have been warned about the risks, she added.

According to AFM’s own estimates, the number of crypto owners in the Netherlands is just under 2 million and most invest under 1,000 euros. Van Geest also acknowledged that the link between the crypto world and the traditional financial sector in the country is still limited.

EU institutions and member states reached an agreement on MiCA last year. It introduces rules for crypto service providers across the 27-strong bloc, and they will need regulatory approval to operate in the common market.

“Do we then want to drop supervision to the lowest level in order to be able to compete with other countries? Or should we say: people applying for a Dutch license visit AFM precisely because of our solid image? We choose the latter,” insisted the head of the Dutch financial authority.

Laura van Geest emphasized that the Netherlands is taking this path even if it means that some of these companies will look elsewhere and try to enter the Dutch market through another European jurisdiction.

“The warnings of regulators have come true in the crypto winter,” Van Geest also said in her article that came out as Belgium’s former finance minister Johan Van Overtveldt urged governments to ban cryptocurrencies altogether. He cited the current banking crisis involving the collapse of two crypto-friendly banks.

Do you expect other governments in Europe to implement stricter crypto regulations than those prescribed in MiCA? Share your thoughts on the topic in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’ quote: “To be a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.