Inquiry welcome as retail investors to bear brunt of a cryptocurrency crash

Turbulent start to the year

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have weathered a turbulent start to the year, as fears over a regulatory crackdown, price manipulation rumours and hacking attacks fuelled a sharp sell-off, although prices have now started to come back.

Cryptocurrency prices are currently being driven by their own dynamics, separate from global equity and bond markets. But regulators have been worried for some time about the wider impact of cryptocurrencies on financial markets and institutions in the future. At the end of last year, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said although he did not believe they currently posed a risk to the UK's financial stability, the underlying technology will be discussed at the next meeting of the G20's Financial Stability Board.  A recent report by S&P Global Ratings supports this view that "the ch...