“These new forms of exchange are expanding rapidly and we’ve got to make sure we don’t get left behind – that’s particularly important in terms of money-laundering, terrorism or pure theft,” explained Labor Party Minister of Parliament (MP) John Mann. Mr. Mann is also a member of the Treasury Committee.
Regulatory Lag
“I’m not convinced that the regulatory authorities are keeping up to speed. I would be surprised if the committee doesn’t have an inquiry next year,” Mr. Mann said.
The country’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), however, issued warnings this year, both for investors and firms involved in everything from cryptocurrencies to initial coin offerings. It even went so far as to pronounce bitcoin as not being a currency.
Mr. Mann concluded, “It would be timely to have a proper look at what this means. It may be that we want to speed up our use of these kinds of things in this country, but that makes it all the more important that we don’t have a regulatory lag.”
early in 2018, the minister in charge has said.”
Perspective
In terms of real, attributable numbers, though bitcoin appears stratospheric in the press, the truth is cryptocurrencies generally and bitcoin in particular are hardly dominating financial affairs. Crypto has a way to go yet.