Demystifying the characteristics and security of digital assets, cryptoassets and cryptocurrencies

Speakers: Esther Mallowah (ICAEW Head of Tech Policy), Racheal Muldoon (Cyber Barrister), Marizah Minhat (Associate Professor in Finance and Economics, University of Bradford Visiting Fellow, LSE Law School) and Adam Roney (Founder and CEO, Calls9).

The event will be chaired by Eva Micheler, who is a professor at LSE Law specialising in company law.

At this stage, a universally agreed taxonomy or classification of cryptoassets does not exist. A number of government bodies have adopted different approaches. The Law Commission has recently introduced crypto-tokens as a subset of digital assets in their consultation paper. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued guidance on cryptoassets and identified exchange tokens (sometimes known as cryptocurrencies) outside its regulatory perimeter. But the discussions on accounting treatment by the IFRS Interpretation Committee, are mainly framed within cryptocurrencies, which are a subset of cryptoassets. Unregulated tokens and related digital asset advisory, wallet, and trading businesses can incentivise arbitrage opportunities and compromise security. The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has acknowledged a proliferation of fraud and abuse involving, among other misconduct, the misuse of holders’ personal data, theft of cryptoassets, or the assets could simply cease to exist, where users’ accounts are suddenly frozen or inaccessible causing crisis of confidence. As the UK hopes to become a global hub for cryptoasset technology and investment, regulatory initiatives need to catch up. We will discuss further issues and propose governance measures that could be implemented to better regulate this space. Views will be offered through short presentations of four speakers.