Lithuania moves to toughen supervision of crypto market
Lithuania’s Seimas (parliament) has voted to tighten supervision of virtual currency – or crypto-asset – companies.
The MPs adopted respective amendments to the Law on Markets in Crypto-Assets and accompanying legislation in a vote of 101 to zero with five abstentions, News.Az reports citing the Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT).The amendments provide for a transitional period to adapt to the European Regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA). Lithuania is one of the first countries in the European Union to have implemented these provisions.
Market participants will have until June 2025 to prepare and obtain licenses. Until then, virtual currency operators will have to submit the documents required by the MiCA Regulation to the central Bank of Lithuania.
“They will become the companies on an equal footing with other financial institutions operating under the same requirements. Uniform rules in the EU will generally lead to a more equal competitive environment for such companies and will make their migration from one EU country to another less meaningful,” Mindaugas Lingė, chairman of the Committee on Budget and Finance, told BNS on the eve of the vote.
According to him, regulation of cryptocurrency markets will clarify the sector and the competitive environment.
The Bank of Lithuania estimates that more than 100 companies could apply for licenses – about one-sixth of those currently in operation.
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