Photo: Sebastian Rittau / Flickr
As the global regulatory bodies continue to explore different possibilities for digital currencies, global chief investment officer and CEO of Allianz Global Investors Andreas Utermann wants regulators to completely “outlaw” cryptocurrencies. On Tuesday, December 11, Reuters reported Utermann speaking at a panel discussion in London.
Citing the huge losses incurred by the investors in this year’s crypto-market crash, Utermann said: “You should outlaw [crypto assets].” By “you” he certainly meant all the global regulatory bodies as he even urged them to declare the entire crypto industry as illegal. “I am personally surprised that regulators haven’t stepped in harder.”
At the panel discussion, Utermann was accompanied by Andrew Bailey, chief executive of U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Bailey is also the executive director of U.K.’s central bank – Bank of England. He called Utermann’s comments as “quite strong” while adding that digital currencies have “no intrinsic value”.
The Bank of England executive said that U.K. regulators were “closely” monitoring all the developments in the cryptocurrency space. It also includes a close watch on the developments in the ICO-market.
No Plans On Introducing an Outright Ban
Although after a sharp attack on crypto assets, there’s likely to possible plan in the near term to ban them completely. In fact, some parliamentarians in the U.K. have demanded to allow citizens to pay taxes using Bitcoin. Eddie Hughes, a member of the U.K. Parliament is a huge crypto enthusiast who has put forward this proposal.
Hughes opinion was much in line with going with the flow i.e. the growing acceptance of digital currencies across the globe. He said:
“You’re either ahead of the curve or you’re behind the curve, and our country is in an interesting position right now. We need to be seen as a progressive country. We are at a crossroads and we’re about to determine our future – one in which taking the lead in this field could prove very beneficial.”
While Utermann’s statements were quite hard-hitting, Allianz’s chief economist Mohamed El-Erian holds a somewhat mild approach. El-Erian was peaking at a conference in New York 15 days back. El-Erian said that cryptocurrencies will continue to survive in the current bear market. He also asserted that they will become “more and more widespread.” However, El-Erian says that he doesn’t believe that cryptocurrencies will replace fiat currencies anytime in the future.
“Cryptocurrencies will exist. They will become more and more widespread, but they will be part of an ecosystem. They will not be dominant, as some of the early adopters believed them to be.”
Back in September, Ei-Erian said: “Crypto is not dead, and certainly the underlying technology is not dead”. “We’re going to see more widespread adoption, by both the private and public sector, of the blockchain technology and related technologies.”
Amidst the latest market crash, the crypto industry is taking some major shift. Many ICOs have withdrawn their projects due to the price of their tokens crashing, While the others are being crushed by regulatory agencies for non-compliance and other illicit practices.
Many other crypto firms have shut down their operations while a few are laying off their staff amidst the market meltdown.
