Empty seats are pictured before the vote on MICA, as part of a plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. (Photo: Getty Images)

Parliament voted by 517 in favour and 38 against to approve the world's first comprehensive set of regulations for issuing and trading cryptoassets such as bitcoin.

"This regulation brings a competitive advantage for the EU," said Stefan Berger, the lawmaker who steered the rules through parliament.

EU states have already given the nod to the rules which will be rolled out from mid 2024, requiring firms that issue and trade cryptoassets to be licensed by a national regulator, giving them a "passport" to serve customers across the 27-member country bloc.

Major service providers will have to disclose their energy consumption. Parliament also backed new rules for tracing transfers of cryptoassets like bitcoins and electronic money tokens.

It applies the international "travel rule" already used in traditional financial transactions, meaning information on the source and recipient of the cryotoasset will have to accompany and be stored on both sides of the transfer to help combat money laundering.

The tracing rule also covers transactions above 1,000 euros from "self-hosted" wallet or crypto address of a private user.