On the latest episode of iGaming Daily, Callum Williams, Senior Journalist for Payment Expert, was joined by Elton Dimech, Managing Director of Payhound, to delve deeper into the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.
Dimech explained that the purpose of the regulation is to create “harmonisation” between the EU’s member states on crypto and avoid a patchwork of differing legislation across the region.
Part of MiCA’s remit pertains to the control of stablecoins – cryptocurrencies tethered to fiat currencies, such as the US Dollar, to maintain its value in an often volatile crypto market.
Some crypto exchanges have been forced to delist certain stablecoins – such as Bitstamp delisting Tether’s Euro-backed EURT – and Dimech considered the impact this will have on companies, such as crypto casinos, that use these coins as a payment method.
He said: “When it comes to crypto casinos that are offering crypto as a payment method, this means that they will need to start educating themselves into what other tokens or coins may be more preferable. It’s not easy because most of the players that most of the merchants are accustomed to [use] USDT, which is the major stablecoin [and] unfortunately will have to be delisted at the end of the quarter.
“There are other tokens and other coins that are in some way cheaper to transfer that may be promoted even more now that there will be this sudden shifts of deposits from players that will have to come into the merchant’s account [using] different coins. So the ability to offer cheaper coins when it comes to transferring those coins is most probably what will happen.”
The mainstream adoption of crypto continues to develop and Dimech also outlined the importance of MiCA, and other forms of crypto regulation worldwide, to assist this trend.
“Seeing where the market is heading, I think we now have the right antidote to be able to absorb crypto adoption on a mainstream basis,” he explained.
“When you start seeing large payments companies like Visa and PayPal exploring merchant settlements in stablecoins, or the insane amount of money that has flown into ETFs in the US, for example, I think we have the right setup to start looking into making use of crypto in the wider sense.”
Outside of the EU, the crypto industry was boosted in November by Donald Trump’s victory in the recent US election. Trump was vocally pro-crypto throughout his election campaign, promising to crush “Biden’s crusade against crypto” and turn the US into a “Bitcoin superpower”.
Although the US is set to bring in its own regulation surrounding crypto, Dimech is hopeful they will be less stringent than the EU’s legislation.
He said: “I know that regulation will happen. Trump has been very forceful about this, but he’s also promising a lot more transparency and trying to push business the US’ way as much as possible.
“So I don’t think that the intention is to overregulate the market. I think the intention is to try and attract more and more business and therefore create the sort of arbitrage now on a more macro and economic basis, where it might be more interesting to look at markets like the US.”
