A member of the governing council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has expressed his desire to see the crypto industry get more regulations from governments all over the world. Councilmember, Villeroy de Galhau, made this call recently as reported on Twitter by user Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) on Thursday, October 7, 2021.
Villeroy is popular for his strong and outspoken support for CBDC and banks and has repeatedly said that the crypto market is growing at an alarming rate that can impact the economy and should therefore be brought under regulations.
Villeroy’s call for more crypto regulations follows an early crypto market move that has seen a rallying of the major cryptocurrencies in the last 72 hours. The council member believes that Central Banks should directly control the crypto industry even as more countries are set to release digital versions of their currencies. He also warned of a possible dominance of the digital token developed and deployed by the Chinese central bank, the Digital Yuan.
The Cryptocurrency Industry is Facing Crackdowns
Villeroy’s calls for more crypto regulations follow several crackdowns by governments around the world in the preceding months. In September, China outlawed cryptocurrencies and announced that trading cryptocurrencies were banned. That announcement came many months after the Chinese government cracked down on miners and shut down mining rigs across the country.
Several countries e.g. South Korea have imposed stricter regulations that have already forced traders into desperation recently. China’s September ban on cryptocurrencies was responsible for a bearish market that saw bitcoin hit previous low levels.
As Villeroy serves as the current President of the Bank of France, there are concerns that the French government might be considering regulations for cryptocurrencies. With the rising rate of calls from countries to regulate crypto, major economic players like the U.S. are in the spotlight to see what happens next. The US has repeatedly announced that the government is not interested in banning cryptos, but is rather interested in making it a safe industry by imposing regulations.
The US has, in recent times, opened investigations into the foremost crypto trading platform Binance, and instituted legal proceedings against Ripple. Last year, the US government was involved in several discussions regarding Libra, the token that Facebook had planned to float.
An earlier announcement by the US Justice Department to unveil a task force called the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) to carry out crackdowns and investigations into the illegal use of cryptocurrencies and the use of cryptocurrencies for illegal purposes. The task force is expected to begin its duties immediately.
Cryptocurrency traders and holders await the impact of these crackdowns and government regulations on prices, even as the market begins a slow but steady recovery from the May crash that saw nearly all coins and tokens in the red for weeks. Bitcoin and Ethereum recently broke the $50,000 and $3,500 price levels recently and altcoins have rallied in an upward move. Experts predict further upward movement in the last quarter of 2021.
James Thompson 
Michael Rafael