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FINTECH NOTE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND Regulation of Crypto Assets Prepared by Cristina Cuervo, Anastasiia Morozova, and Nobuyasu Sugimoto December 20192019 International Monetary Fund Cover Design: IMF Multimedia Services Composition: The Grauel Group Names: Cuervo, Cristina, author. | Morozova, Anastasiia, author. | Sugimoto, Nobuyasu, author. | International Monetary Fund, publisher. Title: Regulation of crypto assets / Prepared by Cristina Cuervo, Anastasiia Morozova, and Nobuyasu Sugimoto. Other titles: FinTech notes (International Monetary Fund). Description: Washington, DC : International Monetary Fund, 2019. | FinTech notes. | De- cember 2019. | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: ISBN 9781513520315 (paper) Subjects: LCSH: Cryptocurrencies. | Electronic funds transfers. | Financial services industry. Classification: LCC HG1710.C84 2019 Publication orders may be placed online, by fax, or through the mail: International Monetary Fund, Publication Services PO Box 92780, Washington, DC 20090, U.S.A. Tel.: (202) 623-7430 Fax: (202) 623-7201 Email: publicationsimf imf bookstore DISCLAIMER: Fintech Notes offer practical advice from IMF staff members to pol- icymakers on important issues. The views expressed in Fintech Notes are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF managementiii International Monetary Fund | December 2019 Abbreviations v Introduction 1 The Risks 3 Regulation 7 Handle with Care 17 Appendix I. Illustrative Examples of Crypto-AssetsRelated Risks 19 CONTENTSv International Monetary Fund | December 2019 AMF Autorit des Marchs Financiers of France AML/CFT antimoney laundering/combating the financing of terrorism BCBS Basel Committee on Banking Supervision BFA Bali Fintech Agenda CPMI Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures DLT distributed ledger technology FATF Financial Action Task Force FINMA Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FSB Financial Stability Board ICO initial coin offering IOSCO International Organization of Securities Commissions MTF multilateral trading systems PFMI principles for financial market infrastructures SAFU secure asset fund for users VFAA Virtual Financial Asset Act ABBREVIATIONS1 International Monetary Fund | December 2019 Introduction 1 The rapid growth of crypto assets has raised ques- tions about the appropriate regulatory perimeter and the ability of the existing regulatory architecture to adapt to changing conditions (Figure1). Effective regulation of financial services promotes long-term economic stability and minimizes the social costs and negative externalities from financial instability. The same underlying principles for regulation should apply to nascent products and services based on innovative technologies, notwithstanding design challenges. The purpose of this note is to identify selected elements of regulation and supervision that author- ities should consider when deciding on a regulatory framework for crypto assets. The note is structured in two main sections: the first briefly summarizes some of the most relevant risks related to crypto assets, while the second concentrates on how regulatory frameworks could address these risks. To illustrate the analysis, some country examples are compiled in the Appendix. The definition of a crypto asset is far from glob - ally uniform and we have therefore opted for a broad approach. In this note, the term crypto asset denotes digital assets that use cryptography for security and are coins or tokens of distributed ledgers and/or blockchains, including asset-backed tokens. We also recognize the distinction between “coins” and “tokens” but may use the two terms interchangeably. 2 The IMF/World Bank Bali Fintech Agenda (BFA) proposes a framework of high-level issues that coun- tries should consider in their policy discussions. The Agenda brings together key considerations for poli- 1 This note was prepared by Cristina Cuervo, Anastasiia Moro- zova, and Nobuyasu Sugimoto, with inputs from Tamas Gaidosch, Eija Holttinen, David Jutrsa, Richard Stobo and Chris Wilson (all MCM). While detailed discussion of antimoney laundering/com- bating the financing of terrorism issues is outside the scope of this note, Kristel Poh, Nadine Schwarz, and Jess Cheng (LEG) provided helpful guidance on the topic. 2 Coins refer to bitcoin and alt-coins, which were issued originally with a main purpose to serve as “currency,” that is, with money and payments-related functions. Tokens have more functions than coins, for example, permitting the coin holders to participate in the service provided or the returns offered by the token issuer. cymakers and the international community into 12 elements, including enabling technologies, ensuring financial sector resilience, addressing risks, and pro- moting international cooperation. This note aims to provide a discussion into regulatory and supervisory considerations in relation to a specific area of fintech crypto assetsgoing deeper into the monitoring, regulation, and supervision elements of the BFA. 3 While the international regulatory community is actively engaged in discussions around crypto assets, approaches are varied and often only partially address potential risks. The fast-moving pace of fintech challenges authorities and standard setters to develop sound regulatory and supervisory approaches to con- tain the risks while supporting healthy innovation. This note does not aim to establish standards or to provide prescriptive solutions, but rather to assist policymakers in various jurisdictions in framing the discussion and issues relative to the regulation of crypto assets. The underlying principle is that regulation and supervision are needed when there is sufficient concern that there are potential market failures or externalities that bring risks to financial stability; warrant the need to pro- tect financial markets, consumers, and investors from abuse; or lead to excessive regulatory arbitrage. The need and features of regulation will therefore depend on the characteristics of crypto assets and related prod- ucts and specific country circumstances. This note therefore does not aim to address compre- hensively the regulatory implications of crypto assets but focuses on selected aspects of financial regula- tion. It addresses some of the most relevant financial regulation issues related to a wide range of crypto-asset features existing todaybut not all. For instance, par- ticular features of stablecoins or other newly developed crypto assets may have regulatory implications that are not specifically covered here. In addition, the note does not cover central bank digital currencies or payment 3 The corresponding elements in the BFA are VMonitor Developments Closely to Deepen Understanding of Evolving Financial Systems and VIAdapt Regulatory Framework and Supervisory Practices for Orderly Development and Stability of the Financial System. REGULATION OF CRYPTO ASSETS2 FINTECH NOTES International Monetary Fund | December 2019 system implications related to crypto assetsalthough these also present challenges to regulators. Moreover, data and privacy issues are not covered in this note, although data use and its regulation could have a sig- nificant impact on the network effect of crypto-related services and thus growth of a crypto-asset ecosystem. This paper also aims to cover more imminent issues to the regulatory and supervisory community and thus does not discuss the challenges that could arise in the long term. For example, in June 2019, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report 4 that consid- ers the implications of decentralized financial technol- ogies and concludes that full decentralization seems unlikely to achieve an economically significant scale in the near future. Therefore, in this note we describe regulation with the assumption that some intermedi- aries will exist for the time being to provide financial services to end users. In fact, the risks discussed here are only a starting point for regulatory discussions. The evolving nature of crypto assets will require a continuous assessment of risks and re-evaluation of regulatory approaches. 4 Financial Stability Board (FSB). 2019. “Decentralised financial technologies: Report on financial stability, regulatory and governance implications.” FSB Policy Paper, Basel, Switzerland. .fsb / w -content/ uploads/ P060619 .pdf . IMF staff activ ely contributed to the analysis and drafting of the report. Industry and technological developments may accel- erate specific activities (see Box2), potentially shifting the focus of authorities from some risks to others. As technologies and products evolve, there will be areas where further adaption will be needed, but in all cases, this note takes the approach that similar activities and risks should be regulated in the same way to prevent the development of excessive risk taking, contagion, financial instability, and material regulatory arbitrage. Finally, given the cross-border and cross-sectoral nature of the activities, closer international cooperation and coordination is needed to address regulatory gaps and prevent potential regulatory arbitrage. Activities related to crypto assets already are and will continue to be more cross-border and cross-sectoralby design than traditional financial activities. This requires closer international cooperation and coordination 5 to address regulatory gaps. Consistent regulatory approaches can prevent the potential risk of a race to the bottom by regulators and policymakers and address regulatory arbitrage by financial entities. 5 While data, privacy, and tax issues are outside the scope of this note, it is quite important to address those issues in regard to cross-border and cross-agency cooperation. Bitcoin Ethereum Ripple Figure 1. The Rapid Growth of Crypto Assets Market capitalization over time of top three crypto assets 350 Billion 300 Billion 250 Billion 200 Billion 150 Billion 100 Billion 50 Billion Billion Apr. 2013 Sep. 13 Feb. 14 July 14 Dec. 14 May 15 Oct. 15 Mar. 16 Aug. 16 Jan. 17 Jun. 17 Nov. 17 Apr. 18 Sep. 18 Feb. 19 July 19 Sources: CoinMarketCap and IMF sta calculations3 REgula TION OF CRypTO aSSETS International Monetary Fund | December 2019 The Risks Crypto-investors and users, 6 as well as crypto-asset service providers, are exposed to high risks. The inher- ently high volatility of major crypto assets, together with technology features and anonymity, create several significant risks not only to investors but also to service providers. Some of the risks incurred by investors are, for instance, operational and cyber risk of wallet pro- viders and the crypto trading platform; market, credit, and default risk of issuers; comingling risk of assets; liquidity risk of both issuers and service providers; market manipulation; misselling; and fraud. Crypto assets are also vulnerable to misuse for money launder- ing and terrorist financing. In addition, crypto assets may generate contagion and business model risks, which may potentially become systemic and warrant a prudential response. This section briefly describes these risks. The subsequent sections discuss regulatory challenges and options to address them. 6 In this note, we will more recurrently refer to “investors,” but the term should be understood to also include end users (both wholesale and retail) of crypto assets, where applicable. Investor Risks Crypto investors may be exposed to a significantly higher risk of loss than those investing in traditional financial assets. Some of the main risks that investors are facing are illustrated in Figure2. Operational and cyber risk of wallet providers and crypto-trading platforms. In the last few years, several crypto-trading platforms and wallet providers, including large and well-known firms, have been hacked and the client coins or tokens have been stolen (Figure3). Some of the largest loss incidents involved several hundred million US dollars per incident, leaving providers bankrupt and investors at a loss. Even in cases where compen- sation was ultimately fully paid out within several months, investors were not able to use their hacked coins or tokens over extended periods of time. Some exchanges are trying to mitigate this risk by con- tracting cyber insurance coverage or by creating sep- arate compensation funds, but there is typically no Operational, cyber, commingling risks Market, credit, default, market integrity, mis- selling and fraud risks Liquidity risk Primary market ICO COIN Secondary market Issuer Financial institution/ reserve *stablecoins only Crypto trading platform Sells a coin Miner Net results are sent to Blockchain transaction is validated and recorded on the Blockchain Customers wallets Ledger of the crypto- trading platform Customer 1 Customer 2 Customer 3 issues an ICO mining activity Sells ICO coins $ $ B Source: IMF sta. Figure 2. Market Structure of Crypto Assets e market structure of crypto assets is simplied and illustrated in the gure. We highlight the risks we address in this paper and illustrate the part of the market chain they relate to in the context of this note4 FINTECH NOTES International Monetary Fund | December 2019 public or other safety net, such as deposit insurance or a liquidity facility from central banks. 7 Market, credit, and default risks of coin and token issuers. Many crypto assets are highly vola- tile, and the investors and crypto-trading platforms are exposed to material market risk. Even so-called stablecoins 8 are potentially subject to the credit and default risk of the issuer, as the collateral (such as bank deposits) may not be segregated from other assets of the issuer and thus both could be commin- gled if the issuer files for bankruptcy. Deterioration of the issuers credit would be reflected into the price of the issuers coins and tokens. Issuers of stablecoins also tend to be related parties of crypto-trading platforms. Therefore, there are additional potential conflicts of interest between stablecoin issuers and crypto-trading platform operators (Figure4). For example, stablecoin issuers may rehypothecate their collateral to the related trading platform operators under favorable conditions. 7 Coinbase has insurance coverage of all client positions held in its hot wallet by a large reinsurer. If Coinbase were to suffer a breach of its online storage, the insurance policy would cover any customer funds lost as a result. Binance established a secure asset fund for users (SAFU) and is reported to allocate 10percent of all trading fees into it. The SAFU is intended to offer protection to users. 8 Stablecoins are designed to minimize price volatility versus a fiat currency, currency baskets, commodities, or tangible assets. Most stablecoins are collateralized by the assets they are designed to track. Others use algorithms to stabilize supply and d
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