The focus on crypto markets has intensified again this week.
London/Hong Kong:
Global market regulators are likely to launch a joint body within the next year to better coordinate cryptocurrency rules, a senior watchdog official has said.
Ashley Alder, chair of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), said the boom in digital currencies like bitcoin was one of the three main areas authorities are now targeting, alongside Covid and climate change.
“If you look at the risks we need to address, they are multiple and there is a wall of concerns about this (crypto) in the institutional-level conversations,” Alder said Thursday at an online conference hosted by the think tank OMFIF.
He cited cybersecurity, operational resilience and a lack of transparency in the crypto world as the main risks that regulators are lagging behind.
The focus on crypto markets has intensified again this week amid more wild volatility that has long had alarmed watchdogs.
The collapse of the so-called ‘stablecoin’ TerraUSD caused the chair of the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday to urge US lawmakers to tighten crypto regulations, while bitcoin has also fallen nearly 20% this week.
Alder said there was a clear need for a global group that sought to align crypto rules, comparing it to several pre-existing climate finance institutions, including one among the G20 group of leading economies.
“There is no such thing for crypto right now,” said Alder, who is also CEO of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission.
“But I do think it’s now seen as one of the three C’s (Covid, climate and crypto), so it’s very, very important. It’s moved up the agenda, so I wouldn’t expect that to happen next year.” same time will be the case.”
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
