Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Vodacom’s Maziv deal gets makeover ahead of crucial hearing

      18 July 2025

      Takealot taps Mr D to deliver toys, pet food and future growth

      18 July 2025

      Cut electricity prices for data centres: Andile Ngcaba

      18 July 2025

      ‘Oh, Ani!’: Elon’s edgy bot stirs ethical storm

      18 July 2025

      Trump U-turn on Nvidia spurs talk of grand bargain with China

      18 July 2025
    • World

      Grok 4 arrives with bold claims and fresh controversy

      10 July 2025

      Samsung’s bet on folding phones faces major test

      10 July 2025

      Bitcoin pushes higher into record territory

      10 July 2025

      OpenAI to launch web browser in direct challenge to Google Chrome

      10 July 2025

      Cupertino vs Brussels: Apple challenges Big Tech crackdown

      7 July 2025
    • In-depth

      The 1940s visionary who imagined the Information Age

      14 July 2025

      MultiChoice is working on a wholesale overhaul of DStv

      10 July 2025

      Siemens is battling Big Tech for AI supremacy in factories

      24 June 2025

      The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

      20 June 2025

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025
    • TCS

      TCS+ | Samsung unveils significant new safety feature for Galaxy A-series phones

      16 July 2025

      TCS+ | MVNX on the opportunities in South Africa’s booming MVNO market

      11 July 2025

      TCS | Connecting Saffas – Renier Lombard on The Lekker Network

      7 July 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E4: Takealot’s big Post Office jobs plan

      4 July 2025

      TCS | Tech, townships and tenacity: Spar’s plan to win with Spar2U

      3 July 2025
    • Opinion

      A smarter approach to digital transformation in ICT distribution

      15 July 2025

      In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

      30 June 2025

      E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

      30 June 2025

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CambriLearn
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » Cryptocurrencies » Growing calls for bitcoin, other cryptos to be regulated

    Growing calls for bitcoin, other cryptos to be regulated

    By Agency Staff23 October 2018
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    After the crypto crash, the industry wants governments to confer legitimacy on digital currencies whose enthusiasts originally boasted of being outside the system. For some operators, the alternative could be bleak.

    Regulators largely ignored digital assets after bitcoin was introduced a decade ago, but last year’s 1 400% rally made them pay attention, with reactions in different jurisdictions ranging from courtship of a nascent industry to outright hostility. However, this year, some digital currencies have plunged as much as 90%.

    A growing crowd of crypto entrepreneurs from San Francisco to Singapore say the market, estimated at US$200-billion, must shed its image as a lawless underworld and become a regulated asset class, like stocks and bonds, for professional investors. To become a staple for pension funds and asset managers, the industry will need to be regulated, a future that many in the market are lobbying for.

    If the crypto market is ever to establish itself as a credible alternative asset class, it will need a set of rules…

    “The most powerful force to reverse such negative sentiment would be market regulation,” said Daniel Santos, a former Standard Chartered banker who’s starting a Singapore-based ratings company for digital assets. “If the crypto market is ever to establish itself as a credible alternative asset class, it will need a set of rules that will weed out fraudulent activity and encourage stable growth, which should attract the deep pockets of institutional investors.”

    Santos’s company, Digital Asset Rating Agency, aims to assuage fund managers leery of investing in so-called utility and security tokens by grading issuers’ business models, management and compliance.

    The idea of a version of S&P or Moody’s stamping their approval on digital assets shows how far crypto has come from the anarchic days of the original die-hards. But those ideological days are over, says Ryan Zagone of San Francisco-based Ripple Labs, who urges a focus on consumer protection, anti-money laundering and risk management. His firm, which holds about 60% of the currency XRP, is among those lobbying US lawmakers.

    ‘A betrayal’

    “Regulation is in fact a betrayal of the origins of bitcoin, which was built around anonymity and skirting government oversight,” said Zagone, the digital money transfer company’s director of regulatory relations. “This philosophy is unrealistic and immature.”

    An established crypto player who says regulation can’t come soon enough is Obi Nwosu, who plans to cut jobs at the London bitcoin exchange he runs — Coinfloor, which says it’s the UK’s oldest. He has been asking the Financial Conduct Authority to regulate Coinfloor and the broader industry since 2013.

    “Institutional players bring large volumes as well as liquidity and credibility,” Nwosu said. That will “make other people that don’t necessarily have the resources to do due diligence on crypto, and have read some negative headlines, say ‘if its okay for these guys, maybe it’s okay for me'”.

    While he has yet to persuade the FCA, Nwosu said he’s encouraged by UK policy makers’ recent statements. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said earlier this month that he wants Britain to lead global efforts to design a regulatory approach to crypto assets and distributed ledger technology. In the meantime, Coinfloor this month won approval to operate in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, an offshore hub that has sought crypto firms. That could facilitate business with institutions that are prohibited from trading with unregulated entities.

    The clamour for big government to step in shows just how immature the crash-chastened market still is, said Kyle Asman, co-founder of crypto advisory firm BX3 Capital.

    If you heard someone from a bank asking for more regulation, you would think you were reading a headline from The Onion

    “If you heard someone from a bank asking for more regulation, you would think you were reading a headline from The Onion,” said New York-based Asman, referring to the satirical news website. “But people don’t have confidence that crypto markets are not manipulated.”

    New York’s attorney-general warned last month that the industry has largely failed to adopt serious measures to detect suspicious trading. US authorities have taken a hard line on market manipulation, with the justice department opening a probe into suspected illegal practices. One piece of good news for crypto bulls came from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has said neither bitcoin nor ethereum are subject to federal securities rules.

    More enthusiastic jurisdictions include Switzerland, which has encouraged the creation of “crypto valley” in the canton of Zug. The Swiss have extended regulatory recognition to former UBS Group banker Jan Brzezek and a unit of his crypto start-up, putting him on an equal standing as a fund manager to his counterparts in traditional assets. Brzezek, though, says crypto needs to spread quickly to the financial industry’s established players.

    Counterparty risk

    “If you come from institutional finance, there is no way you would ever trade with or store your cryptos or your clients’ with a small start-up, because of the counterparty risk,” said Brzezek, co-founder of Zug-based Crypto Finance.

    In Asia, Hong Kong regulators recently said they’re considering experimenting with different approaches to crypto. Japan has welcomed digital currencies, but China has issued an outright ban on exchanges and initial coin offerings. In between is Singapore, where regulators said this month that they’re willing to help cryptocurrency firms set up local bank accounts, but don’t plan to loosen rules to lure more start-ups. Tony Mackay, the former chief of exchanges Chi-X Europe and Chi-X Global, is building a crypto exchange in the city-state.

    A big name who is betting that crypto is ready for regulatory prime time is former hedge funder Michael Novogratz, who says big institutional money could turn the crypto price drop around, possibly in the first half of 2019. Most digital asset firms are already operating to standards equivalent to those in stock or currency markets, while waiting for greater clarity from regulators, he said last week on Bloomberg Television.

    Some observers with experience of the compliance world are taking a jaded view of the rush to be regulated. Authorities should look first to see how existing rules protecting investors can apply, rather than creating an untested new framework from scratch as some crypto professionals might prefer, said Eoin O’Shea, a former compliance chief at Credit Suisse Group who now runs Temple Grange Partners, a consultancy.

    “An industry that thrives on the idea that it’s selling something unique would be foolish not to look to commercially benefit from regulatory action,” he said.  — Reported by Alastair Marsh, (c) 2018 Bloomberg LP



    Bitcoin Ethereum top XRP
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleBrits Printers gets a phenomenal digital experience with Xerox
    Next Article Netflix denies tailoring movie artwork based on race

    Related Posts

    Bitcoin pushes higher into record territory

    10 July 2025

    Burning millions on the blockchain: how hackers used bitcoin to send a message

    30 June 2025

    Crypto shakeout: bitcoin soars, altcoins crater

    30 June 2025
    Company News

    Vertiv to acquire custom rack solutions manufacturer

    18 July 2025

    SA businesses embrace gen AI – but strategy and skills are lagging

    17 July 2025

    Ransomware in South Africa: the human factor behind the growing crisis

    16 July 2025
    Opinion

    A smarter approach to digital transformation in ICT distribution

    15 July 2025

    In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

    30 June 2025

    E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

    30 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.