Global Regulators ‘Going Full Steam’ on Crypto — Official Says ‘Current Structure Is No Longer Fit for the Purpose’

Global regulators are “going full steam” on cryptocurrency regulation. “The current structure is no longer fit for the purpose with the development of cross-border digital market activities,” said the chairman of France’s markets watchdog AMF.

Robert Ophèle, chairman of France’s markets watchdog, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), and a member of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), reportedly discussed global cryptocurrency regulation Wednesday at a virtual conference held by Afore Consulting.

The FSB is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. Ophèle is also the second deputy governor of the Bank of France, the French central bank.

Ophèle explained that regulators worldwide are following the same “universal basic principle,” adding:

I do expect that for some of them, we do have international regulatory convergence … primarily stablecoins and digital asset service providers.

The AMF chairman noted that regulators have not been actively supervising the crypto sector because crypto assets were not yet seen as a financial stability threat. However, Ophele emphasized that crypto is now top of the FSB’s agenda. The central banker opined:

I do think we could achieve, deliver on these issues in the next few quarters … the FSB is going full steam on this issue.

While the FSB only provides guidelines, without the power to make binding rules, its members are committed to establishing regulatory frameworks in their jurisdictions.

Ophele believes that the European Union needs a powerful watchdog for markets, like the European Central Bank (ECB) is for banking. He elaborated:

The current structure is no longer fit for the purpose with the development of cross-border digital market activities.

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