Bank of England to combat crypto money laundering
The Bank of England wants to focus more strongly on money laundering with cryptocurrencies in the future. This was announced by the Governor of the United Kingdom Central Bank at the Scottish Economics Conference this Friday. He stressed that in future, cryptographic currencies should be subject to the same conditions as other financial instruments. In the past, the UK government has recently expressed increasing concern about the potential use of cryptocurrencies in organised crime, terrorist financing and money laundering.
A Brave New World "was the motto of the premiere of the Scottish Economics Conference on Friday. For Mark Carney, the Governor of the United Kingdom's Central Bank, who was invited to speak as the keynote speaker, cryptographic currencies were not one of them. In his speech on the future of money, he painted a somewhat enthusiastic picture of cryptocurrencies as digital payment alternatives of the future, emphasizing their dangers and shortcomings.
The 52-year-old Canadian warned the Scottish economist Adam Smith, quoting the Scottish national economist Adam Smith, that while the students' enthusiasm for Bitcoin & Co. was great, they would not be able to meet the demands of monetary theory.
"How well do cryptocurrencies fulfil the role of money? The short answer is, they fail."
On the one hand, this is due to the lack of lasting value. On the other hand, the inefficient exchange as well as the low possibility of conventional payment hinder the benefits.
At present, the technology would have major learning effects for governments, but legal responses would still be needed. And this would be mainly due to the dangers of their criminal potential:
At the moment, crypto-investments contain a variety of problems within the consumer and investor protection, market integrity, money laundering, terrorist financing, tax evasion and evading capital controls and international sanctions,
he reflected the concerns of the UK government. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Prime Minister Theresa May, for example, had recently warned against criminal use and emphasised that cryptographic currencies would be dealt with "very seriously".
As worried as this may sound, the Bank of England would nevertheless like to refrain from a ban. Rather, the time has come to subject cryptographic currencies to the same conditions and standards as other financial instruments. Without this, financial stability would be at risk, says Carney.
Risks to financial stability could increase in the future if vendors' participation or integration into the conventional financial sector increases, without any improvements being made ".
Anonymity - One curse, the other blessing
The forthcoming G20 summit in Buenos Aires will now provide answers, joint coordination and discussions on possible regulation, Carney stressed. The Bank of England is not alone these days with its concern about anonymity in the mist of the cryptographic currencies.
Last month, Federal Finance Minister Peter Altmaier and his French counterpart Bruno LeMaire had already sent a joint letter to Federal Finance Minister Peter Altmaier urging him to put cryptographic currencies on the agenda of the upcoming summit in Argentina. There it is important to develop international solutions for dealing with the emerging crypto trade in the future. IMF head Christine Lagarde, on the other hand, called a globally coordinated regulation "inevitable" last month. It also gave cause for concern that regulation must focus on the user rather than the currencies themselves. In the past, Lagarde had often warned against the criminal potential of cryptographic currencies.
In the recently published Annual Report 2017, the European police authority Europol also complains about the increased use of cryptocurrencies. These would make cross-border work in the fight against organised crime considerably more difficult, for example with drugs, passport documents or weapons.