‘Volatile’ cryptocurrency trading should be regulated as gambling, says treasury committee
Consumer cryptocurrency trading should be regulated as gambling, the treasury committee has urged. In a new report, the committee called for consumer trading in unbacked crypto assets to be treated in regulation as gambling. The cross-party committee of MPs said cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are being used by criminals in scams and money laundering. Unbacked crypto assets – often called cryptocurrencies – are not supported by underlying assets, the committee added. They pose significant risks to consumers, given their price volatility and the risk of losses, according to the MPs, who said retail trading in unbacked crypto more closely resembles gambling than a financial service and should be regulated as such. The report said: “We strongly recommend that the government regulates retail trading and investment activity in unbacked crypto assets as gambling rather than as a financial service, consistent with its stated principle of ‘same risk, same regulatory outcome’.” The committee pointed to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) figures indicating that around 10 per cent of UK adults hold or have held crypto assets. The MPs also said potential productive innovation in financial services should not be unduly constrained. They said technologies underlying crypto assets may bring some benefits to financial services, particularly for cross-border transactions and payments in less developed countries. A balanced approach should be taken to supporting the development of crypto asset technologies, while avoiding spending public resources on projects without a clear, beneficial use, the MPs said. Harriett Baldwin, chair of the treasury committee, said: “The events of 2022 have highlighted the risks posed to consumers by the crypto asset industry, large parts of which remain a wild west. “Effective regulation is clearly needed to protect consumers from harm, as well as to support productive innovation in the UK’s financial services industry. “However, with no intrinsic value, huge price volatility and no discernible social good, consumer trading of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin more closely resembles gambling than a financial service, and should be regulated as such. “By betting on these unbacked ‘tokens’, consumers should be aware that all their money could be lost.” The committee is considering central bank digital currencies as a separate piece of work. A treasury spokesperson said: “Risks posed by crypto are typical of those that exist in traditional financial services and it’s financial services regulation – rather than gambling regulation – that has the track record in mitigating them. “Crypto offers opportunities but we are taking an agile approach to robustly regulating the market, addressing the most pressing risks first in a way that promotes innovation.” Read More Crypto rules get final approval to make Europe a global leader on regulation Is my money safe? What you need to know about bank failures Nearly 80% of APP scam cases start online, says UK Finance Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live
2023-05-17 12:49
Elon Musk says Tesla not immune to tough economy that he foresees
By Hyunjoo Jin and Akash Sriram (Reuters) -Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk warned on Tuesday that the electric-vehicle maker was
2023-05-17 12:45
Japan's prime minister to meet with top chip firms
TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plans to meet with top executives from global semiconductor companies as early as
2023-05-17 12:21
ReverseEngineering.com® Fusion 360 “RE App®” for FARO Quantum Max ScanArms and Hexagon (Romer) Absolute Arms RDS 6.0 is Now Released
LA JOLLA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 2023--
2023-05-17 12:21
Microsoft CEO Says Smaller Companies Can Still Compete in AI
Technology giants Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc. may be leading the development of artificial intelligence, but there is
2023-05-17 12:20
GIGABYTE to Introduce Leading-Edge AI Solutions and Computers at COMPUTEX 2023, Unveiling “Future of COMPUTING”
TAIPEI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 2023--
2023-05-17 09:52
Court rejects Elizabeth Holmes' latest effort to stay out of prison while on appeal
Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes appears to be soon bound for prison
2023-05-17 09:26
Anue Total Solutions™ Oxygen Infusion Service Replaces Municipal Chemical Costs & Deliveries
ALPHARETTA, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 2023--
2023-05-17 08:53
Crypto Trading Should be Regulated Like Gambling, UK Panel Says
Retail investing in unbacked cryptoassets like Bitcoin should be regulated like gambling because they are highly volatile and
2023-05-17 08:30
Eight in 10 South African children struggle to read by age of 10
Eight in 10 students have issues with literacy, the lowest performance in a study of 57 countries.
2023-05-17 08:23
A Billion New Air Conditioners Will Save Lives But Cook the Planet
Summer in India has always been hot. Increasingly, it’s testing the limits of human survival. As temperatures have
2023-05-17 08:21
Elizabeth Holmes puts off starting prison sentence yet again
Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes may have again stalled the date by which she must report to prison by filing another appeal of her fraud conviction. Holmes was convicted by a federal jury of defrauding Theranos investors last year and was sentenced in November to just more than 11 years in prison. Holmes’s attorneys asked that she be allowed to remain free on bail while she appeals her conviction, but a judge declined that request and ordered her to report to prison on April 27. Now, though, it seems the disgraced tech star might not have to begin her prison sentence until June at the earliest. On Monday, her attorney filed a new motion of appeal of her conviction — after which Holmes was granted an immediate stay of her prison-report date, according to NBC Bay Area. The state has 21 days to respond to the appeal, after which Holmes’s defence team will have a further three weeks to file a final motion. After the final motion is filed, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will consider her legal fate. The appeal filed this week is considered a longshot, but while that process is ongoing it is believed that Ms Holmes will remain free unless a judge orders her to report to prison. Holmes was back in the news last week after The New York Times published a long-form profile of her that was panned by a number of readers for its tone and credulity. Some critics, including the poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib, noted that Black people convicted of felonies are rarely given the same space to pitch their reformations to the media that the profile gave Holmes. Much of the article focused in part on Holmes as a mother. The former CEO gave birth to her first child in 2021 and her second child sometime around the beginning of 2023. Holmes’s former romantic partner and business partner Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani was sentenced to just under 13 years in prison on conspiracy and fraud counts for his role in the Theranos situation. He began serving his prison sentence last month. Read More Elizabeth Holmes says actors are playing a ‘character I created’ in dramatisations of her downfall Elizabeth Holmes says she’s working on new inventions but admits ‘mistakes’ in first interview post trial OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says AI can go ‘quite wrong’ Regulation ‘critical’ to curb risk posed by AI, boss of ChatGPT tells Congress Sam Altman testifies before Congress saying there is ‘urgent’ need for regulation
2023-05-17 07:46