UK Treasury Committee Claims Bitcoin Has “No Intrinsic Value” And Often Used For Scams

Key Points:

• UK MPs recommend regulating consumer crypto trading and speculation as gambling due to significant risk and high volatility. Bitcoin and Ether have “no intrinsic value and no useful social purpose.”

An influential panel of MPs has called crypto trading to be regulated as gambling. Digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ether have “no intrinsic value” and are used for scams.

According to a recent post by Sky News, an influential panel of MPs called on the UK government to regulate consumer crypto trading and speculation as a type of gambling. The cross-party Treasury Committee claimed digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ether have “no intrinsic value and no useful social purpose” and are often used by criminals for scams. They recommended that safeguarding rules, which oversee lotteries, betting firms, and casinos, should apply instead.

The committee’s new report warned digital currencies are a “significant risk” due to “huge” price volatility, with customers potentially losing everything they invest. It said there was evidence that addictions to cryptocurrency speculation were on the rise – and warned there are currently limited controls to protect vulnerable consumers. MPs said they were concerned that bringing the industry under financial service regulation “will create a ‘halo’ effect that leads consumers to believe that this activity is safer than it is, or protected when it is not.”

Despite the negative sentiment towards cryptocurrencies, the Treasury spokesperson indicated that the UK government is taking an agile approach to robustly regulating the market, addressing the most pressing risks first in a way that promotes innovation. Crypto offers opportunities, and the government is considering responses to a consultation into its regulation proposals.

With increasing pressure on governments worldwide to better regulate the industry, it is unsurprising that the European Union recently approved more rigid crypto asset rules, including new powers to ban exchanges that fail to protect consumers. The International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is also expected to propose the first global crypto trading rules.

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