The European Central Bank (ECB) officially endorsed the European Commission’s proposed plan for centralizing crypto-asset regulation on April 11, supporting the transfer of regulatory authority over systemically important crypto-asset service providers, major trading platforms, and central counterparties from national regulatory authorities to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in Paris.
Current decentralized supervision “is not sufficient to address cross-border risks”
In its statement, the ECB said, “It is appropriate for ESMA to directly supervise certain market participants to address the risks arising from their cross-border activities,” and that the current situation of decentralized supervision by individual countries “is not sufficient to meet the needs of an integrated market.”
This plan would grant ESMA additional powers beyond its responsibilities under the existing MiCA framework. ESMA is currently responsible for developing MiCA’s technical standards and coordinating regulation, and the new plan would further allow it to directly supervise large crypto businesses.
ECB warns: ESMA needs adequate resources
The ECB also warned that ESMA must obtain “sufficient staffing and financial resources” to prevent the expanded crypto regulatory duties from overextending the current team. This reminder shows that while the ECB supports the centralization direction, it has a clear understanding of implementation challenges.
Global crypto regulation trends toward centralization
The EU’s trend toward centralizing crypto regulation is aligned with developments in other major global markets. The United States has established a federal-level stablecoin regulatory framework through the GENIUS Act, Hong Kong has just issued its first batch of stablecoin licenses, and Taiwan has also passed a draft of the Virtual Assets Service Act. Countries are moving crypto regulation from decentralized toward centralized, with the only differences being organizational structure and implementation speed.
This proposal still needs approval from the European Parliament and member states, and the consultation process may continue for several months.
This article “ECB Supports Centralizing Crypto Regulatory Authority to ESMA, the Unified Supervision Era Under the MiCA Framework Is About to Arrive” first appeared in ChainNews ABMedia.
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