European Union lawmakers had voted 517-38 in favour of a new crypto licensing system, Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), which makes it the first chief jurisdiction globally to introduce a thorough crypto law.

The European Parliament also voted 529-29 in favor of another law called the Transfer of Funds regulation, according to which crypto operators need to identify their customers so that money laundering can be halted, with 14 abstentions.

All this followed after a debate on Wednesday in which majorly lawmakers were in favour of making crypto wallet providers and exchanges pursue a license to be able to function all over.

The European Commission’s Mairead McGuinness put out a tweet according to which the vote was described as a ‘world first’ for crypto rules.

“We’re protecting consumers and safeguarding financial stability and market integrity,” McGuinness said. “The rules will start applying from next year.”

The European Parliament also released a statement, in which Stefan Berger, the lawmaker responsible for negotiations regarding the law had sid that these rules helped put the EU “at the forefront of the token economy.”

Berger said, “The European crypto-asset industry has regulatory clarity that does not exist in countries like the U.S. The sector that was damaged by the FTX collapse can regain trust.”

The European Securities and Markets Authority was also welcoming towards the vote, when saying in a tweet that, it will “announce in due time” the timetable for drawing out the secondary legislation under MiCA. “ESMA still warns consumers that investing in cryptoassets is a risky endeavour with limited safeguards at this stage,” they had added.

It was in 2020 that the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation was first proposed by the European Commission. The main provisions would begin to get applied in around 12 months after the publication in the EU’s official journal.