Australian Regulators Raise Concern Over Investment In Unregulated Crypto Assets

The number of cryptocurrency investors is drastically increasing. It could have been positive action, but considering the look of the digital market, it is rather alarming. The report from Australia’s financial services regulator cited that the increase became notable in the heat of the global pandemic.

To this effect, Joe Longo has expressed his worries about the action of the investors. Longo is the current chief of Australia’s financial services. In a recent report, he explained that the crypto assets during the pandemic were quite volatile.

Sources reported that the chairman of the ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) cited this in a report held on Thursday. According to the report, his comments followed the research conducted in November last year. The research aimed to observe the rate of investment amid the global pandemic.

Longo noted that the ASIC is quite concerned about the increased number of digital assets products investors. However, he added that these digital currency products are still unregulated and volatile.

Reports On The Survey

Digital currencies were the second most commonly invested products. Based on the data, the crypto industry held up to 44% of the total number of investors. Moreover, about 25% of these investors revealed that the only investment category they engaged in was that of digital assets.

The research also cited that out of the 44% of digital currency investors, just 20% admitted the risk involved in the investment category. This is the leading cause for concern as most crypto investors are unaware of the risks involved in these digital assets.

Need For Crypto Regulations

ASIC chair went further, stating that these investors have little or no protection holding these digital assets. To this effect, setting up digital currency regulations will be reasonably necessary, providing the required security for investors.

On the other hand, Senator Andrew Bragg has also expressed his notions about protecting the investors. Based on his comments, he appears to agree with Longo’s suggestion to deploy crypto regulations.

Going further, Joni Pirovich has expressed her doubts about the functions of the ASIC. Joni Pirovich is an Australian-based crypto assets lawyer and the principal at Blockchain and Digital Assets. Drawing from her speech, the ASIC may not be prepared enough to manage the dealings between issuers and tokens.

She further stated that the relationship between trading and token issuance in Australia creates confusion for policymakers. This is evident from the hitches crypto exchanges face when traders buy and sell issued tokens on the open market.

Featured image from Pixabay, Chart from TradingView.com