Cyprus Government Sets to Send an Appealing Crypto Bill

The position of Cyprus within the European Union is an enviable one with regard to its strides in, and openness to, innovation. Cyprus’ Deputy Minister for Research and Innovation Policy, Kyriacos Kokkinos, said during a meeting with fintech companies in the country that it was ranked the second-best place on the European Innovation Leaderboard in 2021.

The stated event was focused on entrepreneurship, digital assets, and financial technology innovations. A lot of which Cyprus has seen in recent years.

While talking about what the future holds for digital assets and cryptocurrencies in the country, the Deputy Minister drew a beautiful nexus between accommodating innovations and the need to pay attention to laws that guide them. Kokkinos stated further that he can affirm any day that Cyprus is open to the use of crypto and other digital assets.

Furthermore, he said that corporations and individuals need to exercise caution and at the same time, respect all regulations that the government has put in place. Not just that, however, the absence of regulations also requires the same amount of respect for pair play in the sector.

Kokkinos cited an example from Malta where the framework put in place for regulations drew a lot of crypto investors and firms. Yet, it equally brought about more scrutiny and some investigations involving a number of financial institutions and companies. Kokkinos laid emphasis on the need for Cyprus to be careful of any regulations from the European Union since it is a member of the body.

He further unveiled ongoing plans that the government of Cyprus has crafted an attractive crypto assets bill. He said that the law has been released to the public and all interested entities can start sending in their reviews. The executive arm of government was said to have contracted a firm based in New York to help the country with the execution of the guidelines.

Moving on Without the Rest

Speaking on the position of the European Union, Kokkinos mentioned that the country’s concern is just about alignment with the Union. He said the major concern is if they should wait for the European Central Bank to finish up its proposed frame or if Cyprus should go alone on its regulatory path. The case of waiting for the European Central Bank also involves the risk of crypto being too regulated.

Kyriacos Kokkinos said that his response is that Cyprus goes alone as it respects the regulations. Hence the government’s move at publishing the regulations.

He agreed that there are a number of challenges in the way such as the unalignment between the Central Bank of Cyprus and the government. Clarifying that everyone must acknowledge that the Central Bank of Cyprus is under the European Central Bank, and central banks lean towards conservativeness. The government’s role is, therefore, to challenge their positions via debates.