(Finance) – The European regulation on the markets of crypto-assets (the so-called MiCA Regulation) is an important step for the regulation of the crypto world and it is essential that it is implemented as soon as possible. However, this is not enough. He supports it Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), in an ECB blog post. “More work needs to be done for ensure that all segments of the industry are regulatedincluding decentralized financial activities such as cryptocurrency lending or non-custodial wallet services,” he explained.
Panetta is the ECB official who intervenes more often on this sector, with very critical positions. In early December, he said that crypto-assets “have instead become the speculative bubble of an entire generation” and “many of them are nothing more than a new form of gambling”.
In the post published today, he reiterated these positions. “Regulation should recognize the speculative nature of unbacked cryptocurrencies And treat them as gambling activities – he wrote – Vulnerable consumers should be protected through principles similar to those recommended by the European Commission for online gambling. They should be taxed according to the costs they impose on society.”
However, according to the Italian economist, regulation and taxation alone will not be enough to address the shortcomings of cryptocurrencies. “To build a strong foundation for the digital finance ecosystem, we have need a risk-free and reliable digital assetwhich can only be provided by central bank money,” he said. “That’s why the ECB and central banks around the world are working on both retail and wholesale central bank digital currencies.”
“By preserving the role of central bank money as an anchor of the payment system, the central banks will safeguard confidence upon which private forms of money ultimately depend,” was his conclusion.