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The year 2025 witnessed radical shifts in global cryptocurrency regulation, with the United States taking steps to ease regulatory restrictions, while the European Union strengthened its legislative framework. In the United States, the **Federal Reserve** announced the withdrawal of 2022 and 2023 guidelines that required banks to notify it in advance about cryptocurrency activities, replacing them with flexible oversight operations that support innovation. President Trump also signed a law to repeal the expanded definition of "broker" by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), exempting decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms from stringent reporting requirements.
On the other hand, the European Union fully implemented the **Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA)** in December 2024, with a transitional period of up to 18 months for some countries. MiCA focuses on classifying stablecoins such as **E-Money Tokens (EMT)** and **Asset-Referenced Tokens (ART)**, requiring sufficient reserves and transparency in issuance, under the supervision of the European Banking Authority (EBA). It also mandated platforms to implement a "travel rule" to combat money laundering by exchanging sender and receiver data.
In the American context, the **Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)** announced the closure of its investigations against platforms like Robinhood and Coinbase, and decided that "meme coins" are not considered securities, which reduced legal pressures on emerging projects. Additionally, the commission canceled the accounting guidance SAB 121, allowing banks to provide cryptocurrency custody services without classifying them as liabilities, encouraging traditional institutions to enter the market.
Despite these facilities, the Trump administration banned the development of **central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)**, citing privacy concerns, while allowing private stablecoins to operate under stricter conditions. In contrast, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) warned investors about the limited legal protection compared to traditional financial products, especially during the transition period.
#CryptoRegulation These developments show a contradiction in the global approach: between an American openness that supports innovation with partial protection, and a unified European framework focusing on financial stability. In the future, these policies may attract fintech projects to the United States, while Europe enhances investor confidence through transparency.
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These changes reflect an attempt to balance encouraging innovation while avoiding systemic risks, with ongoing debate about their long-term impact on the decentralized finance sector.