The unregulated spread of digital assets is a cause for concern and could have negative consequences, according to Paolo Savona, head of Italy’s securities market regulator Consob, Reuters reports.<\/p>\n
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The agency’s chairman called for stronger regulation. Otherwise, cryptocurrencies could facilitate illicit activity and undermine central banks’ ability to carry out monetary policy, the official said.<\/p>\n
\n\\”If it takes too long at the European level to find a solution, Italy will have to take its own measures,\\” Savona said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In 2016, authorities proposed a bill that would tax companies involved with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n
In 2018, the Italian Treasury developed rules for regulating the industry. The document provided for mandatory registration of cryptocurrency companies and treated digital assets as a means of exchange for goods and services.<\/p>\n
In June 2021, Pieter Hasenkamp, director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, urged to ban Bitcoin<\/a>. The official cited security concerns and fraud risks.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra said that the authorities should regulate digital assets<\/a>, as such restrictions would only harm.<\/p>\n