IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/eucflr/v16y2019i5p652-676n5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Legal Challenges of Cryptocurrencies: Isn’t It Time to Regulate the Intermediaries?

Author

Listed:
  • Sotiropoulou Anastasia

    (Professor of Private Law at the University ofOrléans, Labex-Refi. The author has presented a summary version of this article at ESMA, on January 29, 2019. France)

  • Ligot Stéphanie

    (PhD in Management at the UniversityParis1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, PRISM Sorbonne and Labex-Refi, France.)

Abstract

In only one decade, cryptocurrencies have witnessed significant growth, with Bitcoin being the most dominant one. They are not efficient payment methods, although they bring some benefits linked to the underlying technology they use (Blockchain). In reality, they function more as investment assets than as payment instruments and pose various risks, which are very similar to those encountered on capital markets (price volatility, fraud, market manipulation). In order to deal with these risks, regulation should apply to intermediaries who provide services in relation to cryptocurrencies, such as crypto wallets, operation of crypto exchanges and brokerage. To this end, the European legislator should consider two options. It could, on the one hand, bring cryptocurrency service providers within the scope of the existing financial services regime and thus modify MIFID II in order to include cryptocurrencies in the list of financial instruments. The European legislator could also, on the other hand, aim at creating a new appropriate and proportionate regime that draws on the existing one. Insofar as the existing regulatory framework was not designed with cryptocurrencies in mind and as some of the current rules may not be tailored to the specificities of these assets, the second option is preferable.

Suggested Citation

  • Sotiropoulou Anastasia & Ligot Stéphanie, 2019. "Legal Challenges of Cryptocurrencies: Isn’t It Time to Regulate the Intermediaries?," European Company and Financial Law Review, De Gruyter, vol. 16(5), pages 652-676, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:eucflr:v:16:y:2019:i:5:p:652-676:n:5
    DOI: 10.1515/ecfr-2019-0023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/ecfr-2019-0023
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/ecfr-2019-0023?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:eucflr:v:16:y:2019:i:5:p:652-676:n:5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.