Digital currencies such as bitcoin face a crackdown after Bank of England boss Mark Carney launched a scathing attack.
In a speech at the Scottish Economics Conference in Edinburgh, he branded cryptocurrencies a failure – a lottery that exhibits the classic hallmarks of bubbles that attract ‘fools’.
Carney added: ‘Crypto-assets raise a host of issues around consumer and investor protection, market integrity, money laundering, terrorism financing, tax evasion, and the circumvention of capital controls and international sanctions.’
On the attack: Digital currencies such as bitcoin face a crackdown after Bank of England boss Mark Carney launched a scathing attack
His attack came as bitcoin’s value continues to gyrate wildly, having hit nearly $20,000 late last year.
It was $10,890 yesterday.
Regulators in countries such as China and India have expressed concern about bitcoin, and Germany’s Bundesbank wants global regulation.
Carney said: ‘[It’s time] to hold the crypto-asset ecosystem to the same standards as the rest of the financial system.’
A Bank committee is studying the risks posed to UK financial stability by cryptocurrencies.