New bill voted to regulate cryptocurrencies in Belgium
Parliament has passed the bill structuring the control of "virtual currencies"
Less than a month after it was tabled in parliament, the House voted on the bill to control cryptocurrency providers. On 12 January, 99 MPs voted in favour and 40 abstained.
A new bill was passed in committee on 12 January 2022 and adopted in plenary on 27 January 2022.
The text advocates structuring the status and control of virtual currency exchange and custody wallet service providers. In other words, the government would like to provide a fairly strict framework for the use of crypto-assets on Belgian territory.
To this end, the law plans to allow the Financial Markets Authority (FSMA) to keep a close eye on all cryptocurrency ATMs established in Belgium. They allow the exchange of virtual currencies for legal ones. For example, the bill provides for criminal sanctions against cryptocurrency providers offering their services without being registered with the FSMA. Similarly, the authorities will be able to criminally prosecute persons under the law of a third country offering services related to virtual assets on Belgian territory.
Focus on cryptocurrency providers
This bill complements the provisions of the anti-money laundering law of 18 September 2017. It is in fact entitled "bill amending the law of 18 September 2017 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and on the restriction of the use of cash in order to introduce provisions on the status and supervision of providers of exchange services between virtual currencies and legal currencies and providers of custody wallet services".
For example, it adds a definition of "virtual currency to legal tender services". These are "services consisting of buying or selling virtual currencies in exchange for legal tender or legal tender in exchange for virtual currencies, using capital held in their own name". In short, the Finance Minister's wish is to require cryptocurrency providers to register in Belgium, under the supervision of the FSMA.
It should be noted, however, that these new provisions do not apply to all providers. For example, they do not concern "providers of exchange services between legal and virtual currencies and all providers of custody wallet services that offer such services in Belgium". In fact, the draft law only concerns providers under Belgian law, or providers under the law of another Member State of the European Economic Area who have "a branch or any other form of permanent establishment in Belgium within the meaning of the relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union". In order to be promulgated and published before its entry into force, the text only needs to receive royal assent.
Read the full article here: Geeko Le Soir
