Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

19. To ask the Minister for Finance the situation with regard to the regulation of virtual or cryptocurrencies in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9447/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It has always been my intention that any regulation in this space would be appropriately comprehensive without discouraging innovation.

In Ireland, as of 23 April 2021, providers of services of virtual assets such as digital assets or cryptocurrencies must legally meet anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism obligations.

Thus, all virtual asset service providers established in Ireland are required to register with the Central Bank for anti money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism purposes.

Also, in September 2020, the European Commission published the Digital Finance Package.

This package contained measures to enable and support the development of digital finance in the European Union, while mitigating risks for consumers and the economy.

The package comprises four regulatory proposals:

1. A strategy on Retail Payments

2. A legislative proposal on a market in crypto-assets. This is known as the MICA regulation

3. A legislative proposal on digital and operational resilience. This is known as the DORA regulation

4. A legislative proposal on a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology. This is known as the DLT pilot.

On 24 November last year, the European Parliament announced that it had reached agreement with the Council on the DLT pilot scheme. So this is already in place.

The second element of the package, the MICA regulation proposal, is still under review by the European Parliament. The Council reached general agreement on this proposal under the Slovenian presidency in November of last year. The expectation is that trilogues would commence under the current French presidency.

All EU finance ministers agree to the utmost need to collaborate and approach regulation of cryptoassets in a joint, cohesive and holistic manner, in order to protect monetary sovereignty and preserve financial stability.

This sentiment is further supported by the G20 and G7 members.

My Department continues to work closely with our partners in the European Union, and globally, to ensure that the appropriate regulation recognises the risks presented by crypto assets.