How to regulate crypto

THE wild ride seems to have calmed. Late last year speculators sent the price of crypto-currencies soaring. The value of bitcoin, the best-known, has fallen by half since then. But the momentum behind all things crypto remains powerful. Bitcoin is still worth seven times what it was just a year ago. In the first quarter of this year, according to CoinDesk, a news service, $6.3bn was raised through initial coin offerings (ICOs), a form of funding in which firms issue digital tokens, more than in all of 2017. Last month the Student Loan Report, a website, found that one in five American students it asked had used part of their loan to join the crypto rush.No wonder regulators want to exert greater control over the crypto-sphere. The chance to raise money via ICOs has attracted as many con men as it has genuine entrepreneurs. The head of Europol, Europe’s policing agency, has estimated that 3-4% of the region’s criminal proceeds are now laundered through crypto-assets. Plenty in the industry think regulation would help legitimise crypto. Yet crypto-enthusiasts are also right to fear that overzealous regulation, like China’s ban on crypto-exchanges and ICOs, could throttle a promising technology. To achieve the right balance, regulators must find sensible answers to three questions: what are crypto-assets? How should day-to-day risks be managed? And what threat do they pose to financial stability?