Crypto-assets do not pose a material risk to global financial stability at this time, according to the Financial Stability Board.
However, vigilant monitoring is needed in light of the speed of market developments. Should the use of crypto-assets continue to evolve, it could have implications for financial stability in the future. Such implications may include: confidence effects and reputational risks to financial institutions and their regulators; risks arising from direct or indirect exposures of financial institutions; risks arising if crypto-assets became widely used in payments and settlement; and risks from market capitalisation and wealth effects.
Crypto-assets also raise several broader policy issues, such as the need for consumer and investor protection; strong market integrity protocols; anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulation and supervision, including implementation of international sanctions; regulatory measures to prevent tax evasion; the need to avoid circumvention of capital controls; and concerns relating to the facilitation of illegal securities offerings. These risks are the subject of work at national and international levels and are outside the primary focus of this report.
FSB members have to date taken a wide variety of domestic supervisory, regulatory, and enforcement actions related to crypto-assets. National authorities and standard-setting bodies have issued warnings to investors about the risks from crypto-assets, as well as statements supporting the potential of the underlying distributed ledger technology (DLT) that they rely on to enhance the efficiency of the financial system. These actions are balanced between preserving the benefits of innovation and containing various risks, especially those for consumer and investor protection and market integrity.
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