High Risk For Investors in Non-Regulated Crypto Assets: EU Regulator

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), a leading market regulator, cautioned investors on Wednesday that certain crypto assets are extremely volatile, and that they may lose all of their money. As the public's interest in crypto-assets, such as so-called virtual currencies like Bitcoin, increases, the European Supervisory Authorities reiterate the value of their previous alerts.

The government of India is considering banning all "private cryptocurrencies," according to a draught Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, which is scheduled to be introduced during the current Parliament session.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, speaking at the India Today Conclave recently, said, "While the RBI may take a call on official cryptocurrency, we are very clear that we are not shutting off all options."

Furthermore, although crypto-assets come in a variety of ways, the majority of them are still unregulated. This means that customers who purchase and/or hold these instruments are not bound by the same assurances and protections as those who buy and/or hold regulated financial goods.
The European Commission proposed a regulatory framework for crypto-asset markets in September 2020.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's securities regulator, released its first Trends, Risks, and Vulnerabilities (TRV) Report for 2021 today. The report examines the effect of COVID-19 on financial markets in the second half of 2020, highlighting the rising credit risks associated with large corporate and government debt overhangs, as well as the risks associated with non-regulated crypto-asset investments.