Cryptocurrency sceptics look to bend the ear of regulators

LONDON

Cryptocurrency critics, including economists and researchers, will gather in London and online this week to get their message across to regulators about the booming but volatile sector.    

A number of governments have expressed concerns over cryptocurrencies, but those behind the first Crypto Policy Symposium say they hope the event will prompt much more “critical discourse” of the sector.    

“There are so many crypto conferences but they are funded by the crypto industry,” said Martin Walker, a co-organiser.    

“The goal is to dispel some myths created by the crypto industry and to make policy makers start asking the right questions.”    
But Walker, a banking IT expert, is quick to reject claims that yesterday and today’’s event is an “anti-crypto conference”.    Instead he says it is a chance to hear the critical voices of specialists in financial bubbles, researchers who have evaluated the industry’s carbon footprint and engineers who question the effectiveness of decentralised technologies.     
“We’ve got regulators from all over the world,” he said.    The conference comes as the price of bitcoin has plunged from a peak of nearly $69,000 last October to around $20,000.    The risky nature of the ultra-volatile and poorly regulated market for retail investors will be particularly highlighted.             
Many central banks and financial market regulators have warned about the dangers posed by cryptocurrencies.    But in the absence of a clear legislative framework, users are rarely informed when making their investments, say crypto critics.