Bank of England Governor: Mainstream Crypto Integration Slows

The mainstream integration of crypto currency could be more active, Andrew Bailey, Bank of England governor, said Wednesday (Jan. 10).
According to the Bloomberg report, speaking to the U.K. Parliament’s Treasury Committee, Bailey said controllers must “keep a very close eye” on the sector but stated that the crypto’s integration into mainstream finance has not “kept the speed. ”

“I feel that it’s not taking off as what I might call a core financial service,” Andrew Bailey said, per the report. “For example, utilizing Bitcoin as a payment method is useless.”

According to the PYMNTS report, his comments come as cryptomedia introduce new policies to meet new rules from the U.K. Cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Gemini have executed risk checks and finance tests for their U.K. The government needs crypto companies to notify users about risks and promote them responsibly.

“Starting this week, users of these businesses will be required to complete a statement about their investor profile and answer a questionnaire linked to financial services and regulations.”. “The declaration will ask users to specify themselves as either high-net-worth people or specified investors, established on specific standards.”

In October, the United Kingdom announced its intention to regulate the cryptocurrency market and “bring several cryptoasset moves into the regulatory frame for financial services for the 1st time,” the U.K. Treasury said. As PYMNTS reported, the government intends to present legislation this year to put the changes into effect.

At the same time, the U.K. government revealed plans to bring fiat-backed stablecoins under the purview of the Bank of England, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to “undervalue the potential for consumer harm and mitigate the conduct, prudential, and financial stability risks arising from those stablecoins, particularly when used for payments,” the government said at the time.