New EU crypto assets rules to be released by 2024: report

The European Union (EU) will release a new set of rules by 2024 — with the aim to streamline cross-border payments — by leveraging blockchain and crypto-assets such as stablecoins.

This approach by the EU is part of a broader effort to encourage a shift towards digital finance, especially at a time when the pandemic has driven more people to go cashless as a preferred way to carry out transactions, according to a report by Reuters. 

“By 2024, the EU should put in place a comprehensive framework enabling the uptake of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and crypto-assets in the financial sector,” the documents said, according to the report. “It should also address the risks associated with these technologies."

The document also said that the European Commission — the EU's executive branch — would release a draft law to explain how the existing regulatory framework will be put into action and how new regulations will be introduced as needed. Moreover, once anti-money laundering and identity checks are in shape, the bloc, too, will set up official regulations and allow new customers to use financial services, per the report.

The news comes a week after a senior official at the EU’s executive branch addressed the topic of EU finance ministers — from Germany and France — asking for tighter controls on stablecoin issuers as The Block previously reported.