Dion Seymour comments on the TSC’s proposal that crypto should be regulated in line with gambling

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Crypto & Digital Assets Technical Director, Dion Seymour, comments on the Treasury Select Committee’s proposal to shift the UK’s regulation of crypto in line with gambling regulations, in the Financial Times and AccountingWEB.

Dion’s comments were published in the Financial Times and AccountingWEB, 18 May 2023.

Dion suggested that the committee’s proposals would not remove the risk of scams, volatility or address energy consumption.

He noted that these are the key concerns for consumers, thus bringing into question the true purpose of the report, which he suspected was more to damage the industry than to help it evolve.

“This report shows little understanding of the sector, and it is doubtful that treating consumer transactions within the sector as gambling will provide consumer protection. While consumers and businesses want certainty in this space around regulation, this report is a significant departure from the ‘global crypto hub’ ambition announced in 2022.

“The sentiment of this report is that cryptoassets have a limited existing purpose other than as a digital payment system, which is simply not the case. While investing in cryptoassets can be speculative, the TSC report specifically targets Bitcoin and Ether, disregarding an IMF report highlighting the correlation of Bitcoin with the stock market.”

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