Bank of England says crypto will require stronger global regulation

As crypto assets and decentralized finance technologies develop and grow, they're likely to become more interwoven with the traditional finance sector, bringing a number of potential benefits such as lower transaction costs, but also posing risks to the U.K. financial system, the Bank of England said in a statement. The technology's development will require enhanced regulatory and law enforcement frameworks, both domestically and globally, the BOE said. The BOE's Financial Policy Committee judges that crypto economic functions should take place within the existing regulatory framework and that "the regulatory perimeter be adapted as necessary to ensure an equivalent regulatory outcome" to the traditional finance sector. In other words, the regulatory scope should be expanded. The bank points out that cryptoassets' value grew ~10-fold between early 2020 and November 2021, peaking at $2.9T. Since then, their market cap retreated to ~$1.7T in the first week of March 2022. That now represents