Treasury Committee calls for regulation of crypto as gambling

Warns of 'significant risks'

The Treasury Committee has called on the government to regulate consumer cryptocurrency trading as gambling.

In a report published today (17 May), the committee warned that cryptocurrencies posed "significant risks to consumers" due to their price volatility, and that regulating them as a financial service, as proposed by the government, would lend them "unwarranted legitimacy". MPs argued that cryptocurrencies "have no intrinsic value and serve no useful social purpose", while being used for criminal activities and consuming large amounts of energy. "Given retail trading in unbacked crypto more closely resembles gambling than a financial service, the MPs call on the government to regulate i...