European Union (EU) finance ministers have agreed that there’s no rush to implement cryptocurrency regulation. They believe its best to put aside a crypto report by think tank Bruegel and instead wait for EU regulators to analyse the market.

However, European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, who is the Prime Minister of Latvia, says that he and the EU finance ministers “have had a good exchange of views on crypto assets. We see that crypto assets are here to stay. Despite the recent turbulence, this market continues to grow”.

ICOs as alternative financing

Dombrovskis also spoke positively of initial coin offerings (ICOs), which, he said, “have the potential to emerge as a viable form of alternative financing. Already last year, ICOs helped raise over $6 billion in funding, and this year this figure will be substantially bigger”. And he’s right, as, in the first six months of 2018, $13 billion has been raised by startups through ICOs.

He also discussed the negative aspects of ICOs and crypto. “We also see risks linked to a lack of transparency, so there are risks for investment protection and market integrity, but also in the form of money laundering, potential fraud or hacking”.

Expansion of AML and ATF

He noted, however, that “we have already expanded the scope of the EU anti-money laundering (AML) and anti-terrorism finance (ATF) legislation of crypto asset exchanges and custodian wallet providers”.

One of the challenges the EU still faces in regards to crypto assets is “how to categorise and classify them, and whether and how to apply existing EU financial rules to these assets or if we need new EU rules”.

Regulatory mapping of crypto

To this end, officials in the region are “currently working together with European Supervisory Authorities on what we call regulatory mapping of crypto assets to answer exactly these questions”.

Many EU member states have supported “the need for such mapping, so we expect to conclude this assessment later this year. This will provide a solid ground to build on and to decide on further steps in this area”.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.