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Crypto Shareholder Requirements Set Out by EU Banking Regulators
Controls on staff bonuses at crypto exchanges and wallet providers are also planned as the bloc prepares for its landmark crypto law, MiCA.
Updated Oct 20, 2023, 2:09 p.m. Published Oct 20, 2023, 2:09 p.m.
- EU watchdogs on Friday issued consultations on a range of issues set to be regulated by the bloc's landmark new crypto law, MiCA.
- The proposals cover curbs on ownership, governance and bonuses for crypto companies and their staff.
Crypto company shareholders with a more than 10% stake will be vetted for previous convictions or sanctions under bank-style rules proposed by EU regulators Friday.
The rules come as high-profile crypto industry executives including FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, Celsius’ Alex Mashinsky and Binance’s Changpeng “CZ” Zhao fight U.S. charges that they have misled or defrauded customers, or failed to comply with federal securities laws.
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New European Union laws known as the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation, MiCA, due to take effect in December 2024, require prospective crypto license holders to show owners and executives have a good reputation. MiCA authorizations – which will allow crypto companies to operate across the 27-nation bloc – can be withdrawn if executives don't meet the grade, added the consultation, which is open for comment until January.
Shareholders and board members of crypto asset service providers “must not have been convicted of offenses relating to money laundering or terrorist financing or of any other offenses that would affect their good repute,” a condition that has to be “maintained at all times,” said the EBA and ESMA, the EU rulemaking agencies responsible for banking and securities markets law.
In other parts of the financial sector, ownership curbs have been used to try and prevent former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from owning a major shareholding in a bank. Berlusconi, who died earlier this year, had previously been convicted of tax fraud.
Under the planned measures, companies issuing stablecoins – cryptocurrency tied to the value of other assets such as fiat – would also face limits on staff bonuses as regulators seek to imitate controversial banking-sector measures designed to curb excessive risk-taking.
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- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
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U.S. Senate's Crypto Market Structure Bill Gets Messy as Calendar Weighs Down
The White House has shut down proposals, and lawmakers are circulating the Democrats' asks in what had been a close negotiation, revealing 11th-hour pressure.
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- Democrats shared a response to Republicans outlining their continuing priorities for a crypto market structure bill, which they said was intended to "reach an agreement and proceed towards a mark-up."
- The document laid out concerns with financial stability, market integrity and public officials' ability to trade and profit off of crypto, echoing concerns laid out in a framework Democrats shared in September.
- The Senate is running out of time in the Congressional calendar to hold a markup hearing — a key step toward progressing the bill — before 2025 ends.
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