Търсене
Understanding the EU's response to money laundering: New EU anti-money laundering package
Money laundering is how criminals convert the proceeds of crime into what appear to be legitimate earnings. Criminals are employing ever-more sophisticated methods, including digital and emerging crypto-currencies, to disguise the source of their money. The impact on society of criminality is difficult to understate. It has a significantly negative effect across the socio economic spectrum. Likewise, money laundering – a vital cog in criminal enterprise – has the potential to impact on the stability ...
Tax transparency rules for crypto-asset transactions (DAC8)
The crypto-asset sector, while still relatively new, has already changed the world of payments and investment forever. The fast-changing, mobile nature of the sector and its growing market prominence poses challenges, however, for tax authorities, which are not always able to track the capital gains made from trading crypto-assets. On 8 December 2022, the European Commission proposed to set up a reporting framework that would require crypto-asset service providers to report transactions made by EU ...
Banking union
Ϸվ is expected to vote on provisional agreements on amendments to the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) and to the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) during the April II plenary session. The CRD and CRR provide the prudential framework in the EU banking single rulebook. The Commission tabled a package of two interconnected proposals to amend the CRR and the CRD in 2021. The objective is two-fold: (i) implement final Basel Agreement arrangements; and (ii) enhance harmonisation of banking ...
Understanding crypto assets: An overview of blockchain technology's uses and challenges
Blockchain and its applications, in particular cryptocurrencies, have grabbed the headlines, but many people still do not know how they work. This briefing provides an overview of the uses and challenges of this technology, based on published information. Blockchain originated as part of the enabling digital ledger technology (DLT) developed at the end of the 20th century. DLT works as a digital database containing information (as a record book or ledger) that can be simultaneously used and shared ...
What’s next for the digital euro? - November 2023
This briefing summarises the conclusions of the ECB’s investigation phase and gives an overview of the recent legislative proposals from the Commission. It also discusses the ECB’s legal opinion, highlighting where the ECB has concerns with the legislative proposals. These concerns chiefly result from perceived intrusions by the legislation into the ECB’s monetary policy competences. Finally, the briefing points out open questions and tentative answers, including on the delineation of competences ...
Non-EU countries' regulations on crypto-assets and their potential implications for the EU
The EU adopted a comprehensive and innovative regulatory framework on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA) in June 2023 that will regulate crypto-asset markets. The regulation focuses on stablecoins, which are crypto-assets promising a 'stable value' against official currencies or values. The MiCA provides for strict transparency and governance rules, on the one hand, and prudential rules as per other financial institutions, on the other. By covering all aspects of the crypto-assets, MiCA is expected ...
Digital euro package
A digital euro can be understood as central bank money offered in digital form for citizens and businesses to be used for their retail payments. It would be a central bank digital currency (CBDC) –an electronic equivalent to cash, complementing banknotes and coins – and the central motivation to develop a CBDC can be explained by the increasing digitalisation of financial services. Banknotes and coins, currently the only public money, are considered the ultimate anchor of the financial system. However ...
Administrative cooperation in taxation ('DAC8')
The crypto-asset sector, while still relatively new, has already changed the world of payments and investment forever. The fast-changing and volatile nature of the sector and its growing market prominence poses challenges, however, for tax authorities, which are not always able to track the gains made from the trading of crypto-assets. The Commission's proposal to revise the directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation ('DAC8') seeks to set up a reporting framework that would ...
Digital Euro: Reviewing the progress to date and some open questions
In this in-depth analysis, we summarise and explain the directions that the ECB has in mind for the digital euro, based on the ECB’s progress reports and statements. This substantially revised analysis reflects now also the fourth progress report and selected elements of the Commission’s proposals of 28 June 2023. We also highlight further questions that may deserve the legislators’ attention when they discuss the recent European Commission proposal. The analysis also entails a summary of the external ...
A legal framework for the digital euro- An assessment of the ECB’s first three progress reports
This study assesses the ECB’s first three progress reports on the digital euro from a legal perspective. It looks into what key design choices proposed by the ECB reveal in terms of the legal qualification of the digital euro and discusses legal aspects of the infrastructure supporting it.