Regulators to create a global supervisory body for the Bitcoin industry

Next year, global regulators are likely to establish a joint body to better co-ordinate the rollout of rules for the cryptocurrency industry, said the IOSCO chair Ashley Alder. Reuters reports.

In his view, the boom in digital currencies, such as Bitcoin, has become one of three areas that authorities are focusing on now, alongside COVID-19 and climate change.

“If you look at the risks that need to be addressed, they are multiple. There is serious concern about [cryptocurrencies] in discussions at the institutional level,” Alder said.

In his view, regulators are lagging in tackling three main risks relating to digital assets: cybersecurity threats, insufficient operational resilience and lack of transparency in the industry.

The IOSCO chair says the need for an international group to co-ordinate cryptocurrency regulation, in line with the existing frameworks for financial markets, is obvious. There is nothing like that yet, he added.

“But I believe there is an appreciation of the importance, and it has become part of the agenda. So I would expect this to happen sometime next year,” Alder said.

Earlier, to coordination of global cryptocurrency regulation, ECB Executive Board member Fabio Panetta called for.