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...