MiCa, the proposed European Union Bill for the regulation of the cryptocurrency sector, could lead to current “crypto influencers” being accused of “market manipulation” if they do not declare the potential conflicts of interest in which they might be involved.
The MiCa project was approved by the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on October 10 and is expected to be legislated in the coming months. It covers everything from stablecoins to cryptocurrency mining, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and measures to be implemented to prevent money laundering, among other issues, but there are also some sections that could directly affect crypto influencers.
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This regulation will include a section detailing that expressing opinions on cryptoassets after taking positions on them and not disclosing that conflict of interest in a specific way may be considered market manipulation when this regulation comes into force.
This is one of the measures included in MiCa for “to prevent insider trading, market manipulation related to crypto assets, and illegal disclosure of inside information to ensure the integrity of these types of markets.”
This section has sparked quite a bit of interest among the community, and a Reddit post might suggest that there is a lot of support for this regulation from the crypto-interested sector, who understand that this way crypto influencers will have to take responsibility for any losses they may inflict on others.
However, it is not yet clear how this regulation will be controlled and enforced, but for regulators "it is a step forward that will make the European Union more attractive for the crypto industry at a global level."
