Australian regulators raise concerns over investments in unregulated crypto assets
The number of investors in cryptocurrency is increasing drastically. It could have been positive action, but considering the appearance of the digital market, it is quite alarming. The report from Australia’s financial regulator cited that the increase was noticeable in the heat of the global pandemic.
For this, Joe Longo has expressed his concerns about the action of the investors. Longo is the current head of Financial Services Australia. In a recent report, he explained that crypto assets during the pandemic were quite volatile.
Sources reported that the chairman of ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) cited this in a report held on Thursday. According to the report, his comments followed the research conducted in November last year. The research aimed to observe the rate of investment in the midst of the global pandemic.
Longo noted that ASIC is quite concerned about the increased number of digital asset investors. However, he added that these digital currency products are still unregulated and unstable.
Reports on the survey
Digital currencies were the second most invested products. Based on the data, the crypto industry held up to 44% of the total number of investors. Moreover, approximately 25% of these investors revealed that the only investment category they engaged in was digital assets.
The research also cited that of the 44% of digital currency investors, only 20% admitted the risk involved in the investment category. This is the biggest cause of concern as most crypto investors are not aware of the risks associated with these digital assets.
Need for crypto regulations
The ASIC chief went further and stated that these investors have little or no protection by holding these digital assets. For this purpose, it will reasonably be necessary to set up digital currency regulations, which provide the necessary security for investors.
On the other hand, Senator Andrew Bragg has also expressed his views on protecting investors. Based on his comments, he seems to agree with Longo’s proposal to implement crypto regulations.
Going further, Joni Pirovich has expressed doubts about the functions of ASIC. Joni Pirovich is an Australian-based crypto asset lawyer and principal at Blockchain and Digital Assets. Based on her speech, ASIC may not be prepared enough to handle trading between issuers and tokens.
She further stated that the relationship between trading and token issuance in Australia creates confusion for policy makers. This is evident from the problems crypto exchanges face when traders buy and sell issued tokens on the open market.
Featured image from Pixabay, Chart from TradingView.com
