Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England and Chair of the Monetary Policy Committee, during a recent speech said the cryptocurrencies should abandon the anarchy and adapt to the standards of the rest of the financial markets.
The English banker thinks it is necessary for the cryptocurrency exchanges and the participants on the cryptocurrency market to adapt to the policies against money laundering and against financing of terrorism, since being part of the financial ecosystem brings enormous privileges, but also big responsibilities.
Likewise, Carney pointed out that the digital assets have become a matter of interest for the regulators around the world since they could be used as tools for illegal activities, by taking advantage of their anonymity.
The anarchy could govern the dark web, but in the United Kingdom is a different situation, thinks Carney. He asked the big companies dedicated to cryptocurrency trading to adopt the measures against money laundering and against financing of terrorism available to the financial organizations.
The governor also said: “A better path would be to regulate elements of the crypto-asset ecosystem to combat illicit activities, promote market integrity, and protect the safety and soundness of the financial system.”
However, Carney said that, at the moment, he did not consider the cryptocurrency market to present a danger for the financial stability, since it is a small ecosystem in comparison to the entire financial market. According to him, this is something that could change with the regulation: “For many reasons the crypto-assets in your digital wallets are unlikely to be the future of money,” Carney said. “But that is not meant to dismiss them. Their core technology is already having an impact. Bringing crypto-assets into the regulatory tent could potentially catalyze innovations to serve the public better.”
It is important to say that the Bank of England was performing various tests with the blockchain technology. The tests started more than one year ago and were focused on the cross-border payments.
Mark Carney said the regulatory authorities should make a decision and decide to either ban, regulate or integrate the trading of cryptocurrencies in their countries.
Last month, representatives of the French government expressed their opinion that the only way to regulate the cryptocurrencies is by creating a global legal frame. This proposition was backed up by Germany and commented by Japan.
