Brussels, 26/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - The 'Economic and monetary affairs' committee of the European Parliament is calling for the creation of a task force steered by the European Commission, to analyse the opportunities and risks stemming from virtual currencies, before regulating these platforms.
This task force would gather the required knowledge on virtual currencies such as Bitcoin and would, if applicable, be asked to recommend the creation of European legislative work regulating the activities of this sector, without nipping a technology capable of offering consumers “significant opportunities” in the bud.
“To avoid stifling innovation, we favour precautionary monitoring instead of pre-emptive regulation. But, IT innovations can spread very rapidly and become systemic. That's why we call on the Commission to establish a task force to actively monitor how the technology evolves and to make timely proposals for specific regulation if, and when, the need arises”, said Jakob von Weizsäcker (S&D, Germany), who led the drafting of the own-initiative report adopted by the parliamentary committee on Tuesday by an overwhelming majority (see EUROPE 11521).
Well aware that these virtual currency exchange platforms can be used for criminal or even terrorist purposes, the MEPs also call for them to be included in the scope of application of the European rules to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. This would remove the anonymity involved with virtual currency exchanges.
The plenary session of the EP will vote on this dossier in May. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)