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By Susannah Hammond and Todd Ehret Contents Introduction Definitions Cryptocurrency regulation in the United States — an evolving and complex process Closing thoughts All references to this report must be fully cited,credited to Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence. Introduction Digital transformation and the deployment of crypto-assetshave great potential to make payments and transfers moreefficient. However, the speed and reach of transactions,together with the potential for anonymous activity and for The report acknowledges the emergence of bitcoin asa mainstream instrument and assesses how that haschanged the risk profile with regards to potential moneylaundering and other misuse of cryptocurrencies for illicit or The vast technological applications of blockchain andcryptography are spreading beyond cryptocurrenciesinto the art, entertainment and collectible worlds usingrepresentative non-fungible tokens. The regulatory Financial services firms, regulators and policymakers areall having to come to terms with the rise of a new class ofproduct. This report examines some of these developments It also considers the problems arising from the lack of aninternationally consistent definition of the term “crypto”.It looks at the implications for financial services firms andtheir customers of the potential for central bank digital A compendium included with this report provides anoverview of the regulatory landscape for cryptocurrenciessuch as bitcoin. The compendium was first published onthe Answers On blog1and provides valuable information Defining crypto “… there is no such thing as cryptocurrencies, they are all crypto-assets.” Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank at Reuters Newsmaker with Christine Lagarde. April 2021 •Mechanism to transfer the crypto-asset’s ownership(e.g., centralised, peer-to-peer, decentralized). The successful use of crypto-assets presents manychallenges. One problem is the lack of an internationallyagreed definition of “crypto”, or agreement on where A further challenge is the varying classification anddefinition of a crypto asset service provider (CSP), thecrux of the issue then being the application of rulebooks,specifically including anti-money laundering requirements,to the CSP. Several activities can be performed with crypto-assets. These include activities which by nature may bemapped to those performed in traditional financial markets In broad terms a crypto asset is a type of digital asset thatdepends primarily on cryptography and distributed ledgeror similar technology. This definition, which is used bythe Financial Stability Board, includes digital means of The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) uses a slightlydifferent definition for the term “virtual assets”, which is “adigital representation of value that can be digitally traded,or transferred, and can be used for payment or investmentpurposes”. That definition is not limited to digital assets that The regulatory status of crypto-assets is dependent onwhether the asset is deemed to be within the regulatoryperimeter of a particular jurisdiction and an assessment ofthe risks associated with the crypto asset itself. Supervisory •Nature of the issuer (e.g., identifiable, non-identifiable;public, private; regulated, unregulated); •Intended use of the crypto-asset (e.g., used as a means ofraising funds, of investment, of payment, granting rights to •Holders’ rights (e.g., claim to the delivery of anunderlying asset, to a granted interest, to access or use •Claim redemption (e.g., contractual claim, fixedredemption claim, dependent on price development); •Control over the ledger (e.g., open to the public, opento specific parties, closed to a limited number of Another aspect of the definitions challenge is that of legalcertainty. In May 2021, the UK Law Commission publisheda call for evidence2which seeks to pave the way to ensurethe law recognizes and protects digital assets in a digitized •Validation of the ledger (e.g., permissioned, Property and property rights are vital to modern social,economic and legal systems. The law of England andWales is flexible enough to accommodate digital assets, can be “possessed” because the concept of “possession” islimited to physical things. This has consequences for how The intention is that the call for evidence will be used toreform the law to provide legal certainty and to lay a strong For example, the law recognizes a digital asset can beproperty and that a digital asset can be “owned”. It does Definitions used in Consultation Paper 138 on proposalsfor the regulation of security tokens published in April Crypto-asset or token —a digital representation ofvalue, rights and obligations that are created, stored (ii) substantially similar in nature, purpose or effect to those Safeguarding and administration (custody) of securitytokens —holding or controlling security tokens on behalf Distributed ledger technology (DLT) —a class oftec