The European Parliament has activated an urgent procedure to reconsider temporary rules that have earned the unflattering nickname "chat control" within the crypto community and among human rights advocates. This refers to a mechanism that allows mass scanning of private messages for potentially illegal content, including transactions involving digital assets.
During the vote, 331 deputies supported the accelerated review, 304 voted against, and 11 abstained. To reject or amend the proposal at this stage, an absolute majority of 361 votes is required—a threshold that has not yet been reached.
What does this mean for the crypto industry?
"Chat control" poses a potential threat to the privacy of users of cryptocurrency wallets and decentralized applications. If the rules are extended, it could set a precedent for enhanced monitoring of communications, directly impacting the principles of anonymity and decentralization that underpin blockchain.
A new vote is scheduled for July 9. At this point, opponents of the initiative have time to consolidate their forces, but the vote breakdown shows that the battle will be extremely tense.
Expert comment: The market has not yet reacted to this news, but I would recommend that investors in privacy-focused projects (private blockchains, mixers, zero-knowledge solutions) closely monitor developments. Tightening regulation in the EU could lead to a temporary outflow of liquidity from privacy-sensitive assets, although in the long term, such measures will only stimulate the development of more robust decentralized alternatives.