The rally experienced in recent weeks and months by bitcoin has put the spotlight on the potential risks of cryptomonniques. The concern of regulators and market agents is growing at the same pace as the price of digital token, which since its debut in the futures market has soared new all time high.
European governments fear that the most popular digital currency is being used by money launderers, drug traffickers and terrorists because there is no control over it. For this reason, France's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday that he would ask his G20 counterparts to consider implementing a specific regulation for bitcoin. A proposal to which the Italian Government would have joined, according to Bloomberg, referring to official sources in Rome.
For its part, the United Kingdom would also support any move to implement laws on crypto-currency. "I don't like it. It can conceal activities such as drug trafficking and terrorism,"Le Maire said on LCI Television. Moreover, he has also not concealed his concern about the risks of this new fever for savers..."There is an obvious speculative danger and we need to look at it head-on and study it,"he said.
Le Maire's statements come after the leading cryptodivisa launched the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) futures contract last night and a week after it did so on its rival Cboe Global Markets.
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However, the French finance minister has not discovered gunpowder. And while authoritative voices from the investment world are warning about the highly speculative nature of this asset, the latest being UBS President Axel Weber, who said that the lack of regulation is a fundamental problem and does not recommend buying from its customers, the South Korean government has claimed to be closely monitoring North Korea's activities in the electronic currency markets.