L’Autriche exhorte l’Europe à supprimer les réglementations obsolètes plutôt qu’à empiler de nouvelles règles sur les cryptomonnaies

L'Europe étouffe l'innovation crypto avec des règles dépassées—et le ministre autrichien Karoline Edtstadler tape du poing sur la table.

Réforme réglementaire ou stagnation

Plutôt que d'ajouter une couche bureaucratique supplémentaire, Bruxelles devrait démanteler les textes hérités de l'ère pré-blockchain. Les startups fintech contournent déjà les procédures lourdes en s'installant sous des cieux plus cléments.

Un avertissement sans détour

La position autrichienne frappe fort : les régulateurs européens risquent de transformer le Vieux Continent en désert numérique si ils persistent à réguler comme si les actifs digitaux étaient des obligations classiques. Les investisseurs institutionnels détournent déjà les yeux vers des juridictions plus agiles.

Le paradoxe réglementaire

Pendant que la Commission européenne rédige des directives de 300 pages, les traders institutionnels liquident tranquillement leurs positions en euros pour se positionner sur des marchés moins entravés. Une ironie amère pour ceux qui croyaient que MiCA stabiliserait le marché.

La finance traditionnelle pourrait bien rigoler en regardant l'Europe s'enliser dans des débats réglementaires tandis que le volume des stablecoins dépasse le PIB de certains États membres.

Germany’s Nagel calls for simpler rules, not less oversight

Joachim Nagel, head of Germany’s Bundesbank and also part of the ECB’s Governing Council, doubled down on this on Friday in Frankfurt. He said Europe needs to stop dragging its feet on simplifying the post-crisis rules. “We should boldly move forward on this path,” Joachim said. “Simplification is feasible, according to the motto: as complex as necessary, as simple as possible.”

Joachim is part of a task force the ECB launched back in April. The group is working on making banking rules easier to follow without stripping away safety. His idea? Only common equity should count toward a bank’s main capital requirements. That means fewer overlapping demands and fewer moving parts. Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital tools could still be used, but only to handle resolution cases, not for regular capital compliance.

That idea is already turning heads at the ECB. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Germany’s proposal has become one of the most controversial topics in the ongoing push to fix the ECB rulebook. Some officials think it could force certain banks to raise more capital than they expected, and might even break progress on aligning rules across Europe.

Joachim’s second suggestion is to combine a bunch of capital buffers into a single one. He said this wouldn’t scrap national regulators’ roles, it would just make the whole system less messy. The task force, which includes governors from France, Italy, Finland, and Estonia, plus ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos and board member Sharon Donnery, already gave an interim report to the ECB’s Governing Council in July. The final version is due in December.

The pressure to act comes as banks in the eurozone are sweating over the deregulation trend sweeping through the U.S. and U.K. While central bankers like Martin and Joachim are driving the technical part of the debate, actual law changes will come down to the European Commission and parliament.

Still, Joachim isn’t waiting for politicians to move first. “We’re at the beginning of a long road,” he said. “I want to advance the discussion with our national and European partners.”

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