The Dutch financial regulator intends to maintain a tough attitude towards the Dutch digital asset sector despite looser European rules. The head of the agency that oversees the industry doesn’t think crypto is good news and highlights its flaws in an article.
The head of the Dutch financial authority says that cryptocurrencies are difficult to understand and vulnerable to fraud
Most Western countries are “tightening the reins” on cryptocurrencies, but a complete ban is “difficult to imagine,” said the chairman of the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets (AFM), Laura van Geest, noted in a column dedicated to cryptocurrencies in the business daily Het Financieele Dagblad.
However, despite the tightening in the final phase of negotiations on the EU’s Markets for Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation, upcoming regulations remain less stringent for cryptocurrencies than those for existing financial products, the executive said. and stated:
We do not believe that cryptocurrencies are good news. They are difficult to understand, vulnerable to deception, fraud and manipulation.
Laura van Geest then pointed out, as critics often do, that the value of crypto assets is largely based on speculation and prices can fluctuate wildly. “We have not hidden our opinion. Parties in the financial sector have been sensitized to their responsibilities and consumers have been warned of the risks,” she added.
According to AFM’s own estimates, the number of crypto owners in the Netherlands is just under 2 million and most of them invest less than €1000. Van Geest also acknowledged that the link between the world of cryptocurrencies and the traditional financial sector in the country is still limited.
The EU institutions and member states reached an agreement on MiCA last year. It introduces rules for crypto service providers in the 27-member bloc and they will need regulatory approval to operate on the common market.
“Will we then lower our supervision to the lowest level in order to compete with other countries? Or do we say: people who apply for a Dutch license visit the AFM precisely because of our strong image? We chose the latter”, insisted the head of the Dutch financial authority.
Laura van Geest stressed that the Netherlands is taking this path, even if it means that some of these companies will look elsewhere and try to enter the Dutch market through a different European jurisdiction.
“Regulatory warnings have come true in the crypto winter,” Van Geest also said in his article which arose when former Belgian Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt urged governments to ban cryptocurrencies entirely. He was citing the current banking crisis involving the collapse of two crypto banks.
Do you expect other governments in Europe to implement stricter cryptographic rules than those prescribed in MiCA? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.
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