(London) Economists, researchers and critical cryptocurrency journalists are meeting in London and online on Monday and Tuesday to hear from regulators about cryptocurrency, a booming industry despite a dip in recent months.
Posted at 1:30 p.m.
“A few hundred crypto-oligarchs make money by creating money”, denounced in a recorded message the first speaker of this conference, Brad Sherman, elected Democrat of the House of Representatives, who sets the tone of the event.
“There are so many conferences on cryptocurrencies, but they are financed by the industry”, judge Martin Walker, one of the organizers of this conference called Crypto Policy Symposium 2022.
Mr. Walker refutes the nickname given by certain specialized media of “anti-crypto conference”, and defends wanting to “bust certain myths created and propagated by the crypto industry, and push the legislators to ask the right questions”, explains- he told AFP.
In the conference’s first online discussion on Monday, regulators argued for the application of securities laws to the cryptocurrency market.
During the second, financial inclusion experts warned against the danger of “predatory inclusion”: offering financial services to disadvantaged populations at increased costs and without clearly explaining the risks involved.
A bit like the subprime mortgage scandal during the financial crisis, or short-term consumer loans at usurious rates.
The price of bitcoin fell from a peak near $69,000 last October to around $20,000, leaving many investors on the fence.
Misinformed users
Many central banks and financial market regulators have warned of the dangers represented by cryptocurrencies, which they readily describe as speculative assets more than currencies, but regulation remains limited for the moment.
In the absence of a clear legislative framework, users are rarely informed when making their investments.
The bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency investment platform Celsius has plunged customers into despair, unable to recover investments that sometimes represented their entire savings.
“People didn’t understand that their money isn’t safe, and they still don’t understand why they can’t get it back,” Amy Castor, a freelance journalist who is one of the most critical cryptocurrency critics, told AFP. listened to and virulent.
“We wanted our voices to be heard because it is important for regulators to understand the risks, how cryptocurrencies work and the scams that are inherent in the system,” she said.
A former journalist for cryptocurrency media, she rose to prominence during the 2017 price boom and subsequent crash for her criticisms of Tether, the dollar-pegged stablecoin whose cash flow remains obscure.
“The problem is that cryptocurrencies have grown to such an extent that there are now large sums of money going through lobbying, a lot of money that finances election campaigns”, especially in the United States, he explains. -she.
Well-received reviews
US Representative Brad Sherman was even more blunt during the online conference: “Crypto fans are spending tens of millions of dollars in Washington to make sure the industry is regulated as little as possible,” accuses- he in his message.
Some elected officials proudly display their support for the sector: the mayors of Miami and New York have said they want to make their cities the capitals of cryptocurrencies, and currency projects specific to these municipalities are at various stages of development.
“Officials make big claims about the benefits of cryptocurrencies by focusing on the theoretical virtues of these technologies but ignore their real effect,” worries Tonantzin Carmona, researcher at the Brookings Institution.
In March, she published a research paper on the potential danger posed by mayoral enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies.
While she feared being attacked on social networks, she was well received by the small community of cryptoskeptics, who allowed her to see that she was not alone.
“There is a difference between being hateful and being critical,” she pleads.