German Regulators Call For Global Crypto Law Making, This Is The Reason

Mark Branson, President Regulator of the German Money Market (BaFin), (photo: twitter @BaFin_Bund)

JAKARTA This week, the German federal government called for global regulation of the cryptocurrency industry to be made to protect consumers, prevent money laundering, and maintain financial stability.

Mark Branson, President Regulator of the German Money Market (BaFin), said the hands-off approach that would "end the industry to grow as a playground for adults" was a wrong tactic.

"We have seen a self-regulated world. It will not work," Branson told reporters in Frankfurt on Tuesday evening, December 13.

Branson spoke hours after the US prosecutor's office accused Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, of abusing billions of dollars and violating campaign laws in what America describes as one of the biggest financial scams.

Branson said "the semi-crypto season" may follow what has become a "crypto winter" but emerging industries tend to have more links to traditional finance, which further increases the need for regulation.

"Now is the time for serious cryptocurrency regulation," Branson said, as quoted by Reuters. "The most important point is not only to require European solutions. This requires solutions around the world."

Crypto industry regulations have been accused of being loose and patchy. In Germany itself requires a license for banks to deal with cryptocurrencies.

The European Union has been working on a new market in Crypto Asset Regulation (MiCA) which some say, including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, needs to be expanded in iteration in the future and named "MiCA 2".

Branson sounds skeptical about this sector in the past. Last month he said in an interview on the ECB website that "not all crypto business models are serious".

"Innovation waves, as we know, also bring along rides and criminals," he said.